I've written before on Handcrafting for Little Hands and I knew I wanted to incorporate some handcrafting into our Little House & The Farm play theme. One of the most whimsical aspects of the Little House books is how the girls play with their dolls. S especially loves baby dolls and really enjoyed hearing the parts in Little House in the Big Woods about Mary's rag doll and Laura's wish for a rag doll that finally gets fulfilled in the winter holiday season. I decided we would surely try our hands at some ways of making our own dolls here. Sewing is a bit beyond S's capability at 4 years old, though he loves to practice stitching with a blunt needle on burlap or plastic canvas. He loved a laminated/velcro version of these Pioneeer paper dolls I prepared in our Ever-changing Book and both boys had fun using glue, ribbon, fabric scraps and buttons to create their own paper dolls.
I gave each boy a small basket with yarn for hair and a couple of googly eyes. S decided to use buttons for eyes instead; what a creative idea! They shared the center materials between each other and I set out some colored pencils for added details as well. Once they were dry, they could use them in play or to hang on display!
Doll making need not be a very advanced activity, and in this second version, even young hands can help!
2. Yarn Dolls
I came across this great tutorial on making yarn dolls from Little House Living and decided to give it a whirl! We used some acrylic yarn we had on hand and you can use any yarn at all. You don't even need a whole skein--we made four dolls with plenty of yarn left to spare. Choose your favorite solid color or variegated yarn and begin by wrapping 20-30 times around the width of your fingers. I have a small hand, so I spread my fingers a bit. This will be the arms and hands of your doll.
Cut your yarn and tie a small length of yarn about half an inch in on either side. These will be the doll's hands. Cut the loops to create the fingers.
For the body, wrap yarn around a book or piece of cardboard 20-30 times. Not so ironically, the book closest to me was Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House in the Big Woods! For the girl doll, I wrapped around the width of the book. For the boy doll, I wrapped around the length of the book.
Cut your yarn and tie off a piece of yarn about a half an inch from the top. This will be the top of the head and hair. You can leave it in loops like a bun or cut the loops for spiky hair! Tie another piece of yarn about an inch down to create the head. Cut through the loops on the other end of the body. Next, you'll separate the yarn into two sections. Slip your arms up below the head and pull the yarn of the body over top. Tie a piece of yarn below that to secure the arms in place.
For a "boy" doll, you can separate the remaining strands of yarn into two sections and braid each section into legs or simply tie each section about an inch from the bottom. I opted to braid the legs.
For the "girl" doll, simply trim any uneven ends to create her skirt and you're done!
S and Y love these little dolls so much. S especially liked helping to wind the yarn around the book and Y carried his doll with him all the way to the library story time and kept showing it off the librarian!
The final doll in our post is more of an adult project (in case you were looking for one) or a great first sewing project for an older child! I adapted the tutorial for Pioneer Handkerchief Dolls at Homemaker's Journal and used some of the Paw Patrol fabric and ribbons the boys bought at our General Store to surprise them each with their own Little House with a Modern Twist rag doll!
I have to admit, this took me back to my own days at day camp taking a summer sewing class and making dozens of different types of dolls. There is something so special about handmade toys and even at just 4 and 1, S and Y already seem to appreciate that.
No doll is complete without a blanket to help put her to sleep! Quilting was surely a popular and necessary handcraft in the days of the pioneers, but also one that is yet a bit beyond my little guys. Using tacky glue and fabric squares and scraps on a sheet of felt was the perfect way to introduce the concept to them and a way they could each make a warm and cozy quilt for their new rag dolls. I also set out some buttons, which both boys seem to love! Once the glue was good and dry, they were ready to be used with our dolls or hung on display. While modern day conveniences (and Paw Patrol) are lovely aspects of the age we live in, it is fun and fascinating to dabble in the ways of the past and to play and imagine about how Laura and her siblings must have lived. Handcrafts need not become lost arts and indeed, there is a great deal of joy and meaning that comes from creating something with love and intention. We will be back with a colorful spin on hand dyeing fabric in our next post. Until then...
Happy Playing!
No comments:
Post a Comment