My son is almost 3.5 but we haven’t done many traditional crafts at home. They had a “glue and create” style activity out at the library a few weeks ago and he was so excited to try and make it. I’ve been brainstorming ways to use up my smallest scraps (here is another kid activity with fabric scraps!) and thought I’d combine his interest with my fabric stash!
The activity is inspired by The Quiltmaker’s Gift by Jeff Brumbeau as a part of a fun round-up hosted by Emma Owl, with over 50 Kid’s Book & Craft Ideas. I have the two free printable with simple quilt blocks to fill in – if you don’t have fabric to burn, construction paper would work or you could just color it in!
If you haven’t read this book, I highly recommend it! It is beautifully illustrated, well written, with a kind storyline.
If you like this post, check out these others while you’re here!
- 95+ sewing books for children & sewing fiction for adults
- 20+ easy sewing projects for kids
- 10 free softie sewing patterns & coordinating kids books
- The best tips for teaching kids to sew
- Tips for quilting with kids
The general premise is that a greedy King learns of a gifted quilt maker, who gives all her quilts away. He demands her to make him one, and eventually she teaches him the joy in giving instead of simply receiving.
Each page has a quilt block and the quilts are woven in throughout the pages. I just found out that there is a book of patterns to accompany the illustrations, which is fun!
Ready to work on some quilt blocks?
You can download the simple squares and/or the half-square triangles –sign up for my newsletter and get the free download once you confirm your subscription! If you’re already a subscriber, you can access the pattern with the password in each newsletter, in the resource library.
A simple glue stick is all you need – I liked that is was a simple geometry introduction, looking at how the two triangles formed a square. Half-square triangles are one of my favorite quilting designs, and they are so simple (see my first quilt ever & the Christmas quilt I made).
I just let him make whatever pattern he wanted – you could also print 2 copies and make an example for them to follow!
We have lots of quilts around the house so he was excited to show my husband the “quilt block he made”. I am thinking I will cut out the square and turn it into a card – perfect way to incorporate the giving message from the book!
Julie
Wednesday 13th of April 2016
Ooohhh I love this, it is so clever and such good geometry practice!!