In honor of our gently spinning planet, we made some felted Earth balls at camp last week. It is a wet, soapy, activity and the toddlers were enthralled by it.
You will need:
- aluminum foil
- wool roving in white, green and blue (available at yarn stores that specialize in weaving supplies like our local weaving works in the U Dist.)
- liquid dish soap
- water
- Begin by pulling out a 12"x12" sheet of aluminum foil and allow your child to crumple it into a ball. Be sure the ball is nice and tight. It should be about the size of a golf ball.
- Next, pull out some white roving and wrap the aluminum foil with two layers of wool so most of the foil is covered.
- Apply some soap and water and gently rub the ball. This soothing rubbing can go on for as long as it feels like the wool is starting to stick to itself. Your child can take a turn too. The goal is to have wool uniformly around the foil in an even thickness.
- Add a layer of green or blue and continue to rub with soap and water to even out the thickness of your ball. Once you have white, green and blue roving around your ball and they are all sticking together well, rinse it with water. Roll it and squeeze it out.
- At this point you can leave it to dry in a sunny window and be finished. However, if you want it to be even more thickly felted, put it in the washing machine and dryer with a load of laundry. Happy felting!
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