Last week, I posted a photo in Instagram stories about our collaborative sewing project as a part of our March Family Focus on teamwork and cooperation. Today, I’ve got details about how we approached this project, and well as photos of the final product!
Our project was inspired by this post from The Workspace for Children. She happened to post about a collaborative sewing project her family had been working on slowly over the past few years on February 25, and I thought a collaborate process art project would be a perfect family activity during our focus on teamwork and cooperation. And, we had a great time with it!
We began our collaborative sewing after a Sunday night family dinner, the time we have chosen to refocus our hearts and minds together on our chosen traits for a given month. Though our younger chose to not participate that night (she had a small cold and was just ready for bed, quite honestly, so we didn’t push it that night), she worked on it just about every free moment over the course of the week! Now remember, this is about the process. It’s about learning to sew (which has so many benefits– strengthening hands and fingers, fine motor skills, bilateral coordination, pincer grasps, planning, and more!) and working together, so other than helping thread the needles (which even our four-and-a-half-year old figured out quickly on her own), I gave little direction and let them run with it.
Though we could have continued to work on this all month (or return to it over the years, like Lizzie from The Workspace for Children!), my younger daughter really wanted to hang it in her room, and I needed our kitchen table space back when school was cancelled, so we wrapped it up over the weekend. She’s so proud to have it hanging in her room!
I got some questions about what materials we used for this project. I’ve got them all linked below — these links are all Amazon Affiliate links. Thank you for your support!
- Plastic Lacing Needles
- Wood Window Frame
- Burlap (I wrapped this around the edges of the frame and hot-glue-gunned it in place)
- Yarn (I bought 3 rolls of yarn in bright colors) and Ombre Jumbo Yarn
- Wooden Beads
- Threading Laces (I bought these thinking they may be easier for our younger daughter, but she was able to handle the needle and yarn just fine, so I was the only one who used one of these!)
Has your family ever done any collaborative process art? We also painted this canvas a few years ago, and the girls are so proud that it hangs in a prominent spot in our house. Activities like this may be perfect if your kids are out of school for a bit right now!
If you liked this, please check out the family cooperative Minute-to-Win-It-style games we played to kick off Teamwork and Cooperation Month!
childrenslitlove.com 