Button and Felt Pouch Sewing

What you need

• Kid scissors, 1 pair
• Cardboard box, 1 piece with punched holes (easier version) (optional)
• Thread, about 50 cm
• Felt, 1 square (or an old sock) and 1 rectangle
• Buttons, 3 or 4
• Big needle, 1
• Pin cushion or cork, 1
• Plate or tray, 1 tray
• Pencil, 1
• Small treasure, 1, like a coin or a note

How to do it

Grown-up prep: Cut a piece of thread about as long as the child's arm. Check that the needle's eye is easy to thread. Stay nearby while they sew, since the needle is sharp.

1. Thread the needle and tie a big knot at the end. Ask for help if you need it
2. Push the needle up through one button hole from underneath the felt.
   Ask: What do you think the knot is doing underneath the felt?
3. Go down through the next hole, then up again. Do it six times.
4. Knot the thread at the back, snip it, and park the needle.
5. Fold the felt rectangle into a pocket with a flap at the top.
6. Sew up both sides with small, even stitches, in and out.
   Ask: What makes a line of stitches look neat and strong?
7. Sew a button onto the front of the pouch, just below the opening.
8. A grown-up snips a small slit in the flap, right over the button. A grown-up does this
9. Push the button through the slit to close your pouch.
10. Count your stitches along each side of the pouch.
11. Show your friends, or make another pouch! What will you keep inside yours?
    Ask: What will you keep in your pouch, and who might you make one for?

Play it again

• Pattern pouch: use two thread colors and stitch in a pattern like red, blue, red, blue.
• Button badge: sew three buttons in a row on a sock or felt square to make a badge.
• Gift pouch: make a pouch for a friend and sew their favorite colored button on the front.