Are you looking for an engaging service-learning project for teen boys? We received a note from a customer telling us how she and another teacher in her school collaborated on a project that combined literacy, sewing and mentoring. This unique activity taught teen boys the life skill of sewing while also connecting the older kids to the younger ones through storytime.
Teaching Sewing as a Life Skill For Boys
Our customer is a high school teacher who was teaching sewing to high school boys. She thought that sewing puppets would be a fun project. Then she collaborated with her school’s kindergarten teacher to have the teens read a book to the younger students using the hand puppets they had sewn as props.
Hand Puppets as Props for Storytime
Puppets make the perfect props to help bring books alive. They can either “help” the reader tell the story or ask questions to keep the attention of the young audience. Each student picked the appropriate puppet that would be the perfect prop for the book they were going to read. One student selected our Frog Hand Puppet Sewing Pattern and another chose our Chinese Dragon Hand Puppet Sewing Pattern as their puppets.
Older and Younger Students With DIY Puppets is a Perfect Blend
This was the perfect blend of textile arts, character education and early childhood literacy mentorship. By reading to the younger students the teen boys were learning valuable social, emotional and ethical values. Rather than using store bought puppets, the students created their own unique puppet character to go with the book they chose to read. The sewing experience is a life skill that would boost their confidence in creating something from scratch. Creativity and imagination also played a part especially since the teen readers were using the puppets to engage the kindergartners.
Our Sewing Patterns Are Beginner Friendly
Each of our patterns includes step by step instructions with photos. And every pattern has a link to a YouTube sewing tutorial. This tutorial shows how to sew the puppet from the very beginning of laying out the fabric and cutting to every step of the machine sewing to ending with the finishing details such as placement and hand sewing of the eyes. To make sewing easier, especially for beginners, we recommend using fleece and felt. These fabrics are very forgiving in regards to sewing mistakes. Plus the finished puppets are washable which is important for storytime since little ones love to hug the puppet that just helped to tell the story.
Click on either the Frog or Chinese Dragon image to see what all is included with our instant download digital hand puppet sewing patterns.