I love handmade toys and softies, but if you’ve ever let your little one into the scrap bin you know it doesn’t take much to entertain. I have two ideas today for playing with knit fabric scraps with older toddlers or preschoolers – but any baby would love to just dig in and play with scraps at random!
Knit fabric scraps are tricky to use up since quilting is out, but I’m on a mission to keep them out of the trash! Every Wednesday this month I’m sharing an idea or round-up of ideas to use knit fabric scraps. Last week’s post was a round-up of PDF sewing patterns perfect for upcycling & using knit scraps.
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Idea #1: Sticky shapes & letters!
All you need are some fabric scissors (these are my favorite*), contact paper*, and masking or painter’s tape.
In all fairness, some of these are woven scraps. I made the mistake of letting him help me pick scraps out to cut, and he can’t tell the difference yet. But it doesn’t matter! I left some in their original form and cut specific shapes out of others.
I taped the contact paper down, sticky side up, and let him go to town! We built a few “towers” with some of the shapes.
Of course, his excavator* got in on the action.
Another fun thing to do with longer knit scraps is pull them tight so they curl up, and make letters! It was cool to see him trace them with his fingers, and the contact paper was perfect for holding their shape.
Idea #2: Match-making!
I took a little more time with this, cutting my pieces with my rotary cutter* so they were all even. You could also cut specific shapes out and try to sort them with eyes closed for a tactile twist.
I cut mine 2″ X 3″, it was a nice size (all of these scraps are from when I tested 4 free baby pants patterns!).
Stick them in a container (no, this was not a required visual, I guess I was just in the groove of snapping each step, haha!).
Take turns drawing one out, and see if they can pick the match! You could work together or do a modified “go-fish” approach. Or call out the colors on each scrap, and then match them once they were all out. Lots of approaches!
