Y is for Yarn

• Read “Farmer Brown Shears His Sheep: A Yarn About Wool” by Teri Sloat … I loved this rhyming story about how wool becomes colorful yarn! The sheep are cold and want their wool back, so they follow their wool through the entire process until Farmer Brown realizes they’re cold and knits them new sweaters.
• Before you read
1. Pass around a soft ball of yarn.
2. Ask the kids to describe it.
3. Cut off a length of yarn for each of them and let them unravel the yarn.

• How a sheep is sheared … we watched part of this video and my kids were totally in awe.
1. Explain that shearing sheep is just like giving them a haircut. The clippers look just like the ones we have for cutting hair. Well, pretty similar.
2. We noticed how the sheep go from being big and fluffy, to little and skinny after their haircut.
3. Sometimes the sheep are stubborn and don’t want to move, so they had to carry them over to the shearer.
• Sandpaper Yarn Art … inspired by Polwig.com
1. Give the kids a sheet of sandpaper. I’d recommend anything 100 grit or lower (rougher), the yarn will stick better.
2. Have the kids cut different lengths of yarn.
3. Use the yarn pieces to make letters or pictures on their sandpaper!

• Simple yarn weaving … I couldn’t believe how well my 4-year-old did with this. A little trickier for my 2-year-old, but still fun.
1. Cut a piece of cardboard about 4”x6”
2. Cut 5-6 slits about 1/2” long along the top and bottom of the cardboard.
3. Wrap the yarn around the board and through the slits. Tape each end so it will not loosen.
4. Cut several lengths of ribbon. We used a few different kinds.
5. Show the kids how to go over and under, over and under the yarn to weave the ribbon.
6. Repeat, this time going under then over, under then over.
7. Use a piece of tape (we used packing tape) to tape back all of the loose ends.
8. My 4-year-old did a great job and he was very proud of his creation!

Yellow Yarn

• Glue Y Page … Start your week by gluing yellow yarn to your letter Y alphabet page. I had my 3-year-old help measure the yarn to fit on the three Y lines, then he cut them.
• Cutting Yarn
  1. My 3-year-olds favorite activity was actually using his little scissors to cut, cut and cut little pieces of yellow yarn.
  2. It’s great cutting practice for those little fingers.
  3. Then we glued some of them onto our letter Y.

• Make a yarn puff ball. So easy and the little ball you end up with can be used for all sorts of games. Image from Art Projects for Kids.
  1. Cut a piece of cardboard about 2”x4” (the wider your cardboard, the bigger your puff ball)
  2. Start winding the yarn around and around the cardboard. Not too tightly or it’s hard to get off. The more you wind, the thicker and puffier the ball will be.
  3. Carefully slide the yard off, keeping it looped.
  4. Tie a piece of yard tightly around the middle and knot it a couple of times.
  5. Cut all of the loops and you have a puffy yard ball!