Last week, I was sitting on a proverbial egg. Fret, nausea, excitement: I was all over the place.
I was the lead on a craft project for Nora’s class. Each year every class makes something — something big and wonderful — to be auctioned off as a fundraiser.
We made a wool felt rug. Or, wall hanging, I guess. Since the thought of it getting walked on makes me queasy. Not that it’s sacred; it just wouldn’t hold up to foot traffic.
It was by far the biggest crafting endeavor I’ve been a part of. I felt like Christo. With insomnia.
Not that I’m complaining. I’m the one who found this crazy idea.
I was poking around the internet looking for a craft project with some wow factor that the kids could actually help execute. This isn’t strictly necessary, but it makes it special. However, the things kindergarteners specialize in making — sticky, lopsided things — are things no adult wants to buy. So the trick was to find something that didn’t need skill, just energy.
I found some basic instructions for making a wool felt rug using the stomping power of kids. (The woman who published the instructions is also the supplier of the wool batts we used.) We picked a simple cherry blossom design, as “Cherry Blossom” is the name of my daughter’s class.
All we needed was 10 pounds of wool, 2 gallons of water, some rope, old sheets and a few ten foot 2x4s. No problem!
Here’s How it All Went Down






I did not do this alone! I had the most amazing team. From the grown-up world, I had Anne, Nathalie, Karri, Corbin, O’Brien, Ben, Miss Erin, Miss Alana, Miss Gemelah and Miss Stephanie. From the kid world, we had the entire Cherry Blossom kindergarten as well as aftercare children from all the kindergartens and a mess of grade schoolers from Corbin’s woodshop classes. Everyone did a fantastic job! Thank you!
All that’s left is to see how much money it raises for our school.
So, what’s the biggest craft project you’ve ever done? We’re looking for ideas for next year.