Tuesday, June 23, 2009

New field bags



Here is one of the field bags that nearly destroyed my sewing machine. Each is slightly different, but they all contain the same supplies. They're embroidered with the children's names, in the color which helps them identify all their belongings at my house.

The children in my program are between 1 and 5 years old. We're starting small and simple with these bags, and will work up to more later. For now, they contain:
a beautiful little sketch pad
a pencil
a small magnifying lens
a tulle collection bag for rocks, bark, flowers, etc, etc, etc.

As the children get older and more used to using their field bags, I expect to add:
watercolor paints (thus the really nice sketch books which work beautifully with watercolors)
field guides appropriate to wherever we're headed and whatever we're into at the moment
critter collection containers
and...? We'll see what comes from the children's pursuits.

Lori Pickert, another Reggio-inspired educator, has a great tutorial on her blog for how to make a field bag from recycled clothing. I'd wanted to have field bags for the kids, and her blog gave me just the kick in the ratty-old-mom-jeans I needed to get going on making them.

3 comments:

urban craft said...

I totally love recycling jeans to make a bag! Awesome idea and looks like fun for the kids!

Luisa said...

That came out soo cool. I'm so bummed I got rid of my old jeans months ago but it's ok Gianfranco will eventuall outgrow his. I love the picture of the hammer and sewing machine it lifted my tired spirits. I get a kick out of how hammer can fix a sewing machine, computers and appliances. Luisa

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