Fun with felt: Treasure

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By Jane Bower—Consultant in art, drama, dance and literacy. Jane runs practical workshops in schools or at www.offcentre.co.uk

Have a pirate adventure exploring the things we treasure and why, with these creative felt design activities

Beginner: Pirate’s purse

You will need: circular templates (approximately 15cm diameter); felt; compass or compass points marked on a circle of card or CD (12cm diameter); pencils; scissors; large-eyed wool needles; bodkins; bradawl or hole punch (adult use); thick, smooth thread; beads.

What to do

Tell the children to place the template in the corner of the felt, draw around it and cut out the circle.
Show the children how to use the compass to mark dots at the 16 compass points, about 1.5cm from the edge of the circle. Talk about the points of the compass, making links to pirates. If your children are going to use blunt bodkins, an adult should pierce the dots first with a bradawl or hole punch. If they can use pointed needles, the bradawl is unnecessary.
Let the children use a 125cm length of thread to sew a running stitch through the dots or holes around the circle. Leave a long tail of thread at each end.
Trim the thread depending on whether the pouch will hang from the pirate’s belt or neck.
Help the children fit both threads through the bead so they fit snugly. Tie the ends in a knot and slide the bead up to close the pouch.