My 9 year old is a great gift maker. And by great I mean, he really thinks about the recipient and puts great time, effort and detail into the making of the gift. While I wholeheartedly admire and attempt to foster this quality, sometimes it requires a lot of time and attention from me as well. However! For this year’s teacher gifts, I was told that he would make them himself. Really, really by himself this time. (mostly)

Introducing the 3rd Grade Teacher Puppets:

Meet Mrs. S, Mrs. K and Mrs. P! Each teacher is carefully portrayed in felt as a finger puppet. Yep, he really did it this year from concept, to choice of materials to sewing and gluing. I was available for initial needle threading as well as offering a grown up finger for testing the size of the finger puppet. I love the little #1 ribbons he made for each one with a button from my button jar.

The only detail I helped with was the glasses. But how? (These are some of the details that we end up wrestling with, sending me into a wild goose chase, searching for just the right trim, tool or doodad.) Turns out a small amount of crafting wire wrapped around the square end of a chopstick did the trick.

I wish you knew how much these really resemble his teachers. Uncanny! He’s giving them out today and I’m sure they will be a hit.

School will be out in just a few days and I am sure there will be many crafting sessions this summer. He and I intend to create his own sewing kit, craft supply bin and station to help foster his crafting independence! I’ve got a great book, too, called Sewing School, that I can’t wait to dive into with him. I’ll be sure to blog about that and let you know how it goes!