A creative textile arts program inspired by traditional hand crafts and Waldorf-style handwork. Students will explore a variety of fibre arts techniques while developing patience, creativity, problem-solving skills, and fine motor coordination. Through meaningful hands-on projects, children will learn the value of slow making, craftsmanship, and working with natural materials while creating beautiful handmade items to treasure and use.

Week 1: Hand-Sewn Pocket Friends

Begin your textile arts journey by learning foundational hand-sewing skills while creating a small pocket-sized friend to take home. Students will learn how to safely use a needle and thread, sew simple stitches, stuff soft creations, and add character through thoughtful details. Whether they create a little gnome, woodland friend, or imaginative character, this project encourages creativity while building confidence with basic sewing techniques.

Week 2: Birthday Crowns

Create a beautiful reusable birthday crown that can be enjoyed for years to come. Students will learn to combine sewing and needle felting techniques to personalise their crowns with creative details. This project introduces simple techniques while encouraging children to design something uniquely their own, resulting in a keepsake that can become part of family birthday traditions.

Week 3: Needle Felted Bookmarks

Creating a one-of-a-kind bookmark. Students will learn how loose wool fibres can be transformed into colourful designs using specialised felting needles. They will experiment with colour blending, layering wool, and creating simple designs while developing patience and precision. The finished bookmark is an expression of practical art. 

Week 4: Watercolour Felt Foraging Pouches

Inspired by traditional nature sacks and woodland adventures, students will create a handmade felt foraging pouch designed for collecting small treasures found outdoors. Children will begin by painting directly onto felt using watercolours, exploring colour, pattern, and creative expression before constructing their pouch. Once completed, the finished bag can be used to collect leaves, feathers, seed pods, shells, and other nature finds, encouraging continued exploration.

Week 5: Stick Weaving

Explore one of the oldest textile techniques through the art of weaving. Using sticks gathered from nature and colourful yarns, students will learn how weaving is created by interlacing fibres to build texture and pattern. As they experiment with colour combinations and different weaving techniques, children will create a unique woven artwork inspired by the natural world. This project encourages focus, patience, and an appreciation for traditional fibre crafts.

Week 6: Needle Felted Fairies & Gnomes

Step into a world of imagination while learning three-dimensional needle felting techniques. Students will use wool fibres to sculpt their own fairy, gnome, or magical woodland character, learning how to shape forms, build structure, and add personality through small details. This project allows plenty of creative freedom while introducing more advanced felting skills and encouraging storytelling through art.

Week 7: Needle Felted & Hand-Sewn Mini Purses

Combine sewing and needle felting techniques to create a charming miniature shoulder purse. Students will first decorate felt fabric with their own needle-felted designs, adding patterns, flowers, woodland motifs, or imaginative scenes before assembling and sewing the purse together. Along the way they will learn simple construction techniques and gain confidence combining multiple textile skills within a single project. The finished purse is both functional and uniquely personal.

Week 8: Mini Basket Weaving

Conclude the term by exploring the traditional craft of basket weaving. Students will build from the sewing techniques they have learnt and apply them to making baskets alongside learning simple introductory weaving techniques, while creating a small trinket basket perfect for storing treasured keepsakes, nature finds, little crystals, or other meaningful objects.  Children will gain an appreciation for one of humanity's oldest crafts while creating a practical item to take home and enjoy.