A few days ago I updated our Montessori-inspired sewing/craft shelf for both of my children now aged 4 and 6 years to use. In the past we have had all the items they needed on either a tray or in a basket, but after reading Sewing in a Montessori Classroom and now that my children are a little older, I wanted to create more of a space for them to ‘gather’ what they need, put those items onto a tray and then carry that tray to where ever they would like to work- inside on the floor, at a table or outside.
After setting up this shelf, I noticed both of my children wanting to do some craft/sewing work at the same time and I felt like I needed to adjust it a bit, so since taking these photos, I have added an extra empty tray (these trays are just the ones that other materials came in), an extra pair of scissors plus a pair of pinking shears and some rubber bands as requested by my eldest.
When my children were younger, we started with the following;
- Embroidery thread and large eye needles. You can get sharp or blunt tipped stainless steel needles. I would thread the needle and tie the knot.
- Material- hessian/burlap (first sewing)- then onto using cotton or linen for sewing
- Embroidery hoop helps hold the material but is not necessary
- Lucet- knitting fork with thick wool- see my previous posts here and here. A vegan option to using wool is acrylic wool which we have at home.
Previous post on beginner/early sewing;
- Early sewing on material scraps
- Sewing at 4.5 years of age
- Hand sewing at 4 years (using an embroidery hoop)
Edited 9th April
See my post here on the changes we have made to this space
