Handcraft Badge Activity
Making a Yarn Octopus
Task 2: Find out how to plait, using three pieces of cloth, ribbon, wool, pipe cleaners, strips of plastic bag, grass, etc.
Task 8: Make a yarn dolly.
Time: 15 minutes
Equipment: ball of yarn, 10 strings of yarn for tying off, Ping-Pong ball, 2 small round beads or googly eyes, a scrap of felt, fabric glue or hot glue gun, scissors, needle, and thread
Method:
Start by wrapping the yarn in a large loop of about 45cm. Use the back of a chair, cut a piece of cardboard, or your arm (palm to elbow). Wind it around about 50-60 times (not too tight). (You can pre-prep this before the activity)
Remove the yarn from wherever you wound it. Make sure to keep all the loops intact. Hold the yarn so all the loops are hanging down, and keep your finger in the loop. Use one of the strings to tie the yarn together, about 4cm below your finger. Make a double knot to keep it tightly intact.
Put the loop down, spread the yarn slightly and place the Ping-Pong ball in the loop right underneath where you just tied it.
Now you can position the yarn around the Ping-Pong ball to cover it.
Use another string and tie that right underneath the ball.
Now you can cut the loops, above the Ping-Pong ball to create hair and the bottom of the loop.
An octopus has eight tentacles. Divide the yarn into eight equal sections.
Now you plait the tentacles and tie them with the remaining 8 strings. You can trim the hair and tentacles.
Get creative with the felt, beads, and/or googly eyes to create eyes. Hot glue works best on the yarn, please remember it is best for an adult to help with the hot glue gun.
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Working in burrows with an adult leader to demonstrate
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Finished octopus
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Plaiting the tentacles
Resources
Weaving a Board Game
Task 1: Using either grass, paper, or strips of plastic bag/fabric, weave a placemat.
Time: 15 minutes
Equipment: 16 Strips of paper (2 Colors, 8 each), Glue, Bottle Caps (2 Colors, 12 each)
Strip size: 28cm long and 3,5cm wide - it will make a perfect square.
Tip: bind all the strips together with an elastic and hand them out to each Meerkat. This will ensure they receive the correct amount of strips and the correct amount of colors.
Method:
Start by placing 1 strip horizontally (base strip). Glue alternate colors vertically to your base strip. Make sure there are no gaps between the strips. You now have 8 strips, 4 of each color in alternate order. Now the weaving starts. The next horizontal strip should be a different color from your base strip. If your first vertical strip was glued on top of your base strip, this horizontal strip should go on top of it. The horizontal strips should start on top and the next one behind the first vertical strip to create alternate block colors.
Once all the strips are woven and correctly placed, you can glue the edges.
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Meerkat weaving their board games
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Adult leader demonstrate
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Finished Checker Game Board
