Wool technology in the kindergarten

Sheep wool is an ancient material of exceptional natural properties and has some advantages over synthetic materials that are widespread used, beside the impact on the environment is becoming more and more problematic. For this reason, knowledge about the wool in the kindergartens seems even more important. That way child can connect with the nature and the environment and can produce numerous useful products that wool technology allows. Because the usage of the wool is very broad, we believe it is very important for children in kindergarten to learn the wool harvest procedure and other wool related technological procedures. The goal of this thesis is to present the variety of activities with the sheep’s wool and to motivate other kindergartens to use this material. The problem is unfamiliarity with the material itself. In the theoretical part we introduce the wool processing and wool treatment, followed by introduction of different techniques and technologies that we can use in kindergarten. We also wrote a baseline of child development and games. The children showed great interest for the activities. We continued with dry felting making brooches which included felting with the needle. When children mastered wool handling each of them made a product on their own. Some help was necessary with young children, like making a bow tie and handling a needle. Wet felting proved to be the favourite activity for the children. With teacher's guidance they were able to make a product (felt-drawing). All products have been quality constructed. Children did pay attention to details like transparent parts which they connected with the wool on the base layer. Weaving proved to be more difficult for younger children. Children were able to detect possible problems with the yarn and the sticks and were able to fix it themselves. Younger children were not able to weave on their own yet. They were more interested in the process itself, than the product. With this kind of material children dealt the first time when making a bottom part of the handbags. The activity making a toy was done on their own as well. It proved that sewing a toy was not a difficulty. Proper environment, quiet space was all that children needed. The activity was implemented only with older children. Everyone was able to cut and sew. Filling up the toy with wool to stand upright proved to be more challenging. After trying out some options, most children have succeeded. During the activity children were persistent, accurate doing the fine work, creative, and overall most products were finished and put up on exhibition. The activity itself, material and technology all together proved to be suitable for creative activities in the kindergarten