As a project to include with the sewing kits I include for girls 5-9 and 10-14, I decided to come up with a kit for them to make teddy bears. I thought this would help them learn how to sew, and at the same time, give them the materials needed to make a toy for themselves, siblings, and friends. I like to include enough materials for them to make several bears. Because embroidery items are needed for this, as another project for the girls I also include several skeins of different colors embroidery floss and a white/offwhite fabric that I stamped several hot-iron transfers on (I typically go with florals). I have the template on Google docs, the link here should print it out at the correct size.
Included in the kit is:
- Light colored fabric, plain or print. It should be light enough to see regular pencil marks on. A "fat quarter" (1/4 yard of fabric, 18" x 22") is enough to make 4 bears.
- Scissors (as long as you check that they do a decent job of cutting fabric, regular school scissors will work for this)
- Pencil & sharpener
- Stuffing, about 10g per bear. I vacuum-seal my stuffing to save on space, and label it with how many bears the stuffing will fill.
- Thread to match - I like to get the 1,000 yd tubes. They are just a little bigger than a standard spool, give the girls a LOT more thread, plus you can stuff 2 skeins of embroidery floss inside the tube.
- Embroidery floss - black or brown for eyes/nose.
- Small embroidery hoop
- Sewing and embroidery needles, pins.
- Teddy bear templates. I make these out of clear plastic report covers or page dividers, they are fairly durable and won't be destroyed if they get wet. Print the picture to fit on page, the outer teddy should be about 7-3/8" tall.
- Instruction sheet.
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Direct links: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1x3PUYRbYpsfu3uGqv47jnfG5otg3zjwuG-w9tVwAFQI/edit?usp=sharing
https://docs.google.com/document/d/10nuvEfoZiwP1AdNvi1dHrbo2WcPsVrOu9SyFSNZ0Gmc/edit?usp=sharing
Another idea I found for the shoeboxes was DIY tops. Since boys love to make things (my 5-year old has already made one for everyone in our family, plus one for his best friend), I thought it would be a great idea to make top kits to put in the boxes of boys 5-9 and 10-14. A bonus is since it's flat, it's easier to pack :) I ordered bulk wood toy wheels from ebay (1.5" diameter, 0.25" hole) and picked up some .25" diameter dowel rods. Cut the dowels into 2.5" sections, cut some squares of sandpaper to include, and put it all in mini bags that you can find 100 for $1 or $2 at the craft store, along with the instructions and a pencil sharpener. I've created a google doc that you can use here.
I like to put in more than one, so they can share with siblings or friends. If I have space I like to include enough materials for 4 tops :)
When looking through Pinterest for Operation Christmas Child ideas, I found some playmats. Since I love multi-taskers, I came up with a drawstring backpack that doubles as a playmat for dolls or hotwheels. I used a slightly modified version of the backpack for Lutheran World Relief School kits, the pattern is available here. Since I used regular fabric to make it, I used an old (clean) sheet as a liner, sewing the layers together. I triple stitched the bottom and side seams to make sure it can withstand years of use. For the tabs, I layered a thicker fabric inside.
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