Turtle Soft Sculpture

Recommended Age Range: 7 years and above

Messiness: low mess

Duration: 1-2 hours

Teaching a child the skill of sewing is a valuable tool they can use throughout their life.

Child Developmental Areas	Objectives
Fine Motor Skills	Children will develop their fine motor skills by learning how to thread wool through a needle using a needle threader and embroidering the turtle using a satin stitch.
Creativity and Imagination	The activity encourages children to use their creativity and imagination to come up with their own unique designs while learning new embroidery techniques.
Patience and Persistence	Children will need to be patient and persistent to complete the embroidery and sewing parts of the activity.

Supply List for Turtle Soft Sculpture Activity

·         Wool

·         Turtle outline printout

·         Needle

·         Embroidery hoop

·         Enough fabric to cover the turtle

·         Scrap fabric to stuff the turtle

·         Pins

Instructions for Turtle Soft Sculpture Activity

Preparation

1.       Print the picture (on the page after these activity instructions)

2.       Use a lightbox or tape the pictures to the window, which will act as a lightbox

3.       Cut about 21 cm x 21 cm of fabric, and tape over the printout

4.       Using a marker, trace the turtle.

 

Activity

Part 1: Embroider the Turtle

5.       Stretch the turtle drawn onto the fabric on the embroidery hoop.

6.       Using wool, embroider the different sections of the turtle shell. Move the fabric around to embroider other parts of the turtle.

7.       Once the turtle is completely embroidered, cut out enough fabric to cover the turtle and pin it in place over the turtle, so the embroidery is in-between.

8.       Cut around the turtle shape.

Part 2: Sew the Two Parts Together and Stuff

9.       Sew around the turtle shape, leaving enough room to insert stuffing.

10.   Fold the turtle the right way and use a pencil to poke the head and flippers into shape.

11.   Stuff the turtle with scrap fabric, starting with the head, tail, and flippers. When the turtle is stuffed full, sew around the outside with a blanket stitch.

 

Clean-up and Recycling:

Collect any leftover wool scraps and add them to the collage collection.

Encourage the children to use their new embroidery skills to create more pieces at home.