Felt Kokeshi (Japanese Dolls)

(Note: Do not use regular felt tip colouring pens to draw details of your doll's face on as it leaves a smudgey, bleedy, five o'clock shadow type effect that I'm sure we weren't looking for.)

These little door hangers/bookmarks/companions are just so cute! We made these during our Japanese themed week, along with fans and other such things, and I just can't stop loving them.

All you need is an array of different coloured felts, scissors and hot glue. A template is highly recommended for the kiddies. We used something like this:

 Make the templates out of cardboard so that they're sturdy and won't bend when you try to trace around them. It's a good idea to have a bunch already traced out on the felt prior to the beginning of craft time especially for thos little ones that are still developing their fine motor skills.

Cut the pieces out, arrange them just so and hot glue them together. Allow the children the option of cutting out their own eyes and using googley eyes. Create some little flowers and hearts to adorn the girl's hair and kimono and attach a ribbon to the top at the back for hanging, and you're done.

Tips and Variations:

• Use a colouring pencil or chalk pencil (like the dress makers use) to trace around the shapes onto the felt. Not only will a white pencil show up on the dark coloured felts, unlike felt tips there is no ink to bleed through and stain the fabric.
• Add another piece of felt to the back of the doll, hot gluing around the edges only and leaving an opening at the bottom to turn the doll into a finger puppet.
• Add a paddle pop stick to make a different kind of puppet.
• Leave off the hanging ribbon and it would be a great addition to a felt board collection.

For more Kokeshi inspiration check out This Pinterest Board

Paddle Pop Harmonicas

This has to be one of my all time favourite crafts I've discovered. It's a little difficult to get right at first and many of the younger kids will require a lot of assistance, but the end result is well worth it. It's perfect for a music themed day/week - because its an instrument - but can also be used for a science theme, since it's a great example of how how sounds are made.

What You Need:

• 2 paddle pop sticks
• 2 small rubber bands
• 1 large, wide, flat rubber band (It's important that it is wide and flat. I've tried with the regular thin ones and they just don't work. The ones I use are between 0.5 and 0.7 cm wide)
• paper
• tape
• scissors

Constructing Your Harmonica:

1. Cut two little strips of paper. (Mine are 2cm x 5cm, but they just need to be wide enough that you tape doesn't hand off the edges and long enough they they go around both paddle pop sticks with a little overlap)
   
2. Place one paddle pop on top of the other and wrap the piece off paper around each end of the sticks, tapeing them to hold the right size.
   
3. Slip one stick out and set aside for a moment.
4. Stretch the large, wide rubber band from one end of the stick with the paper on it to the other as shown below:
   
5. Sandwich the paddle pop sticks together once more and wrap the smaller rubber bands around each end of the sticks, ensuring they are bound together securely. Make sure these rubber bands do not catch the paper beneath them. 
   
6. Blow! Place the centre of the harmonica between your lips and blow. If you're successful you will hear a buzzing, kazoo like noise.

HINTS, TIPS AND WARNINGS:

HINT! You can change the pitch of the noise by altering what we musicians call embouchure (Yay! Technical words!) which is basically the use of facial muscles and the shaping of your lips, along with the speed at which you blow the air out. Tighten lips and blow faster for higher notes. Loosen lips and blow slower for lowere pitches.

Or you can just tell the kids to blow harder for high notes and softer for low notes. That might satisfy them for a while...

HINT! Try using the big tongue depresser paddle pops too!

TIP! If your harmonica is not making a noise have a close look at the middle of the instrument (the area between the two pieces of paper). I learned while making them with the kids that the ones that work have teeny tiny gap between the paddle pop sticks. You should be able to see light through it.

 If you don't have a gap, there's no room for vibrations. If there's no vibrations, there's no sound. (Ohhhhh, science!). I like to make sure that at least one of my sticks is slightly bowed.

WARNING! This is a noisy craft! You may want to have a stash of ear plugs at the ready for children and staff that are sensitive to noises, as there will be a lot of it. Once a child has a harmonica and has figured out exactly how to play it, he or she is likely to play it for the rest of the day. Maybe it's best to send them outside to play directly after making them?


Enjoy! And don't hesitate to let me know what you think in the comments section!