I am going to my little boy’s classroom to teach the kids about wool, about felt, and then we are going to make felted soap. I have spent the weekend trolling through videos that show lots of different ways of doing this . . . and I have made a number of bars of felted soap myself. I have to say that I have loved the process. . . and loved the process of thinking about how to introduce my great abiding love for wool to second graders. So, what follows, at least for now, is my lesson plan. I have 1.5 hours in Ms. Woods second grade class. . . I confess that in all my years of teaching (teaching English, Creative Writing, Literature, Knitting, Felting. . . ) I have never spent so much time and put so much thought into a lesson plan. Even this bare bones outline can’t possibly convey the hours, the worry . . . nor can it convey the finished result [to commence at 12:30 on today!]. I plan to take pictures and post them here, but it may be that I get so drawn into the experience I forget and take no pictures. . . hmmmm. Perhaps I will task my son with the role of documentary photographer . . .
In any case, if you have kids or just want to get your hands REALLY clean, this is a fun project. And here is my lesson plan: I am going to use this blog posting on a smart board in the classroom.
Rules for Today:
If you might want to say EWWWWW, instead say AHHHH, So INTERESTING! You will learn more if you are interested and open-minded than if you reject something as gross.
You will learn more by making mistakes than by getting it perfect, so don’t be afraid to mess up. The worst that can happen is you start over. When you start over, you become an expert faster! How cool is that?
WHAT IS WOOL?
Wool is the hair of sheep.
Liester Longwool
There are MANY breeds of sheep: they all look different.
Sheep have been living with people for so long that most breads have fur that keeps growing and growing. They need people to cut their hair. Cutting a sheep’s hair is called “sheering.”
This is Shrek, a sheep that was not sheered for 6 years!
This is what Shrek looks like during his first sheering.
Wool is AMAZING!
It has incredible characteristics:
it is warm. And it can keep you warm, even when it’s wet.
It kills germs! And resists mold.
Wool has an oil on it called lanolin that is a wonderful oil and good for the skin. It also makes wool water-proof!
Wool can felt . . . This means that wool fibers matt together with other wool fibers and make a fabric.
People have used wool’s felting power to make lots of things that are useful:
To make Boots . . .
And slippers. . .
And Clothes
And bags
And Rugs
Here is a video that shows how to make a felted rug.
You can also make Houses OUT OF FELT!
Why does wool felt?
Here is a picture that shows why wool felts: each hair has “barbs” or scales that want to lock together with other wool fibers.
What makes the fibers do this?
Irritation! By friction (hands rubbing together, pounding on the felt, putting the felt in the washing machine).
Change in PH! Add a little soap (this creates an alkaline environment) and this irritates the fibers even more. . .
Change in temperature. Shock the wool between hot and cold and the wool freaks out and grabs onto its fiber friends!
Now we are going to see first hand how wool felts . . . Before we get started with our project, I want to talk a little bit about how we are going to learn about felting.
Learning Styles: Everyone Learns in a Unique Way
Some people learn . . .
by seeing (watching) . . .
by listening . . .
by speaking . . .
by doing . . .
by teaching . . .
So, for today, this is how we are going to learn:
1. Watch what I do.
2. Listen to what I tell you.
3. Then tell me what i did.
4. Then do it.
5. Then teach someone else. Go home and teach your parents and your sisters and brothers. Teach your friends.
Now. . . for felted soap!
First is the decoration . . . Just to get you thinking. . .
Materials You Need:
Soap
Wool (I am using carded Merino top from New England Felting Supply)
Water
A bit of a “sock” (a bit of stocking works well! I cut knee high stockings into 3 pieces after knotting them in 2 places.)
A bit of friction (rubbing hands and then, at the end, plastic canvas to rough things up)
Temperature differential: have a bath of cold water and a bath of hot water and shock the soap back and forth (if necessary) between the two. Squeeze out excess water and keep going.
FIRST STEP: Make a little bed for your soap that is no bigger than half a sheet of regular notebook paper.
RULE 1: If you are using more than one color, the colors must overlap.
RULE 2: If you are using sparkle, you must put a little wool spider web over the sparkle.
RULE 3: The wool be shouldn’t be too thick, or too thin, but just right.
This is the step in which your creative brain is going to be working. While we are working on our designs, we belong to a creative community!
Rules for a creative community:
1. Learn from each other.
2. Inspire Each Other. Share Your Ideas. Don’t be afraid to Copycat but add your own twist. This is what creativity is.
3. Help Each Other.
4. Comment respectfully on others’ work: all of our creations teach us something.
SECOND STEP: Make sure the little bed is not too thick. Think spider web rather than blanket!
THIRD STEP: Put your soap in the bed and wrap it up.
FOURTH STEP: Put the little soup in a blanket in your sock.
FIFTH STEP: Get it wet, then get the excess water out.
SIXTH STEP: Gently rub on all sides until it suds.
SEVENTH STEP: “Wash hands” for 2 rounds of the Cup Song (at least) before checking your soap!
Original Version of the Cup Song
Irish Version of the Cup Song
TROUBLES?
There will always be troubles! This is part of the creative process. The REALLY IMPORTANT part is HOW YOU SOLVE THE PROBLEM, FIX THE TROUBLE, AND WHAT YOU LEARN FROM THAT!
Too much wool? DOES THE SOAP HAVE A MOHAWK OR AN EXTRA ARM OR SOMETHING? Fold the extra over onto the soap, rinse, squeeze out all extra water, and keep going. Use your scrape tool for extra friction and keep going.
Too little wool? ARE YOU SEEING HOLES? Add another spider web layer and try again.
The Noni Blog 
