Felt Hand Puppets - Free Printable Patterns...!

What a lot of fun these were to make - Felt Hand Puppets!

What you will need...

Felt in A4 sheets for the main body pieces

Scraps of felt for belly patches etc

Self-adhesive felt for small patches (optional - can be sewn on instead)

Buttons

Embroidery thread and needle

Ribbon for bows for bears

How to make...

Print out your patterns - here they are...

Hand Puppets Patterns

Before you start cutting out your felt, check hand size against the pattern - adjust the pattern width if necessary. Rather a little big, than too small!

Cut out two main body pieces

Cut out the appropriate patches.

Work on one of your main body pieces - We sewed the belly / snout patches on, using a running stitch, and then using self-adhesive felt, we stuck on the smaller patches. All can be either sewn or stuck on - up to you!

Buttons were stitched on for the eyes / noses and the bears each got a ribbon bow!

The monsters can be created as you will - every one is different!

When you are happy with your Hand Puppet, then stitch the two main body pieces together, close to the edges - easy to do on a sewing machine, but can be hand stitched if you like.

Use your imagination - be creative and then have hours of fun with your hand puppets....!

Quiz - Cities with NO "A" in their names - Printable!

Just a bit of fun with your group - hand out the tea and biscuits, set a time limit of say ten minutes and see how many Cities in the World they can think of with NO "A" in their names...

Here are twenty I came up with - but there are many more...

Quiz - Cities with NO A in name

Enjoy!

If you want more Printable Quizzes, especially aimed at our senior folk, have a look at my eBook...

41 x 10 Easy Quizzes with Answers - Printable...

Hours of fun and mental exercise for your groups!

Valentine Wall Mural...! Hearts and Glitter!

We had great fun putting this Valentine Wall Mural together...

at Mencap Art and Craft group in Braintree!

As the Beatles say "All You Need is Love"...!

Happy Valentines Day!

Tutorial for Felt Butterfly & Flowers Wall Hanging - Printable Templates

We made Butterfly & Flower Wall Hangings this week at Mencap...

If you would like to make them with your family or with your group - they really do appeal to girls of all ages...!    Here is the Tutorial with Printable Templates.

What you will need...

Felt - A4 sheet for the background

Self-adhesive felt to decorate the butterfly - or use glue...

Felt scraps for Butterfly, Flowers and Hearts

Buttons

Embroidery thread

Thin dowel (we used green garden canes cut to size) 

Ribbon or cord to hang

How to make...

Turn over a narrow hem, just wide enough to slip your dowel into, and stitch - either by hand or on your machine, as I did.

Cut out your butterfly and flowers / hearts (mine are die cut, but you can use this flower and heart template)

Butterfly Template

Flower Template

Heart Template

Stitch your butterfly onto your background with a running stitch.

Cut the butterfly body out and stitch or stick it on top.

Decorate the butterfly with pieces of contrasting felt - use self-adhesive felt or use glue to attach.

Attach your flowers / hearts - we used buttons to secure them to the background.

Slip the dowel into the hemmed top and tie on your ribbon or cord.

Hope you all enjoyed making your Butterfly Wall Hangings!

Quiz - Movies with Names in the Title - Printable!

Who wants a Quiz?

Here is one about Movies - each Movie has a name of a person in the title - print them out here...

Quiz - Movies with Names in the Title 

and fill in the names...

Answers supplied if you get stuck - have fun over a cup of tea with your group...!

If you want more easy printable quizzes have a look at my eBook...

41 x Easy Quizzes with Answers - Printable eBook

Funky Washer Necklaces - Tutorial!

These simple Washer Necklaces are very easy to put together and our class at Mencap really loved creating their own combinations of colours and designs...

What you need...

Metal washers - an assortment of sizes - look at your hardware shop for these...

Nail varnish - we bought a cheap variety - plain colours and one with sparkles in it.

Yarn or cord or leather strips - we used a cotton/rayon yarn but use any suitable - each strip about 108mm long (43inches)

Pony beads - large hole bead

Blue or White Tack (to mount beads on, when painting)

How to make...

Mount your washer on a lump of Blue or White Tack (to raise it up from your table) and paint the top side and edges with your nail varnish.

When dry, take your yarn (you can use a single piece or two or three lengths of yarn - see photos) and fold in half. 

Thread the rounded end through the washer and loop the ends through so your washer hangs from the centre of your yarn.

Thread on beads and maybe add another washer - see our examples for ideas...

Tie the ends of the yarn together and you are done...

Easy to make and lovely to wear...!

Enjoy the fun of creating these funky Washer Necklaces...!

Two eBooks - 41 Easy Quizzes & Simple Craft and Activities...

I have put together two eBooks to help you with your groups...
41 Easy Quizzes and Answers and Simple Crafts and Activities...
read on for more details on how to get yours...

My eBook Simple Crafts and Activities is now available to buy for a nominal fee of £2.75 (Paypal only please) and then can be downloaded instantly in a PDF file format - ready to print either in total or only the pages you need for a project...

This eBook will save you hours of searching for crafts and activities - suitable for the older folk, but also many craft projects for any age...

All my tutorials have printable templates to make it easy for you...

So click here and have a look...Simple Crafts and Activities

41 easy Quizzes with Answers is available if you are looking for quizzes - especially set for the older generation... Also only £2.75 and printable PDF file download.

Cat Collage A4 Calendars - Tutorial!

We made Cat Collage A4 Calendars at Mencap this week...

What better way to start a new term in the New Year?

The choice of schemes is endless but we decided on Cats!

Enjoy making yours with your group...

What you will need...

A4 Card - we used Black Card

Strips of coloured paper - plain and/or designed

Cat pictures - cut from a book found in a charity shop

 Templates to print - Cat drawings to be coloured in and cut out 

(gathered from free colouring pages)

Glue stick

Punch and string for hanging

Calendar tabs - we found ours on eBay

Doubled-sided adhesive tape

How to make...

Glue your strips of coloured paper onto the card - leave some black showing through if you like

Colour in you cats and stick them and other cut-out cats on top of your strips of coloured paper

Using double sided tape or glue - stick on the calendar tab

Punch two holes at the centre top and thread a piece of string/cord through for hanging.