professionally crafted dream catchers...
to give an idea of what they should look like.

Contributed by a viewer.  Thanks Kathy!

Kathy wrote:  "The following activity was very successful at our after school club.  Although ideal for the older children, this works well with the younger children too, although they need more supervision and some adult assistance, usually with threading the needle (as many children don’t sew these days), and helping them when they got into difficulties!.  I thought I would share it with you, as it wasn’t too difficult for the children.  The end result was pretty impressive.

Materials:

• Netting bags (The type fruit or vegetables are usually sold in at supermarkets are ideal).
• Round plastic rims from margarine, ice-cream tubs lids. (This proved harder than I thought, it took ages collecting, even when we asked parents for help, as most plastic containers for ice-cream and margarine in the UK are oblong shape rather than round!).
• Brightly coloured wool.
• Plastic darning needle.
• Plastic beads.
• Feathers.

Instructions:

• Cut out the center of the lid so you are only left with the plastic rim.
• Place the netting bag over the plastic rim, and pull taut, so the mesh doesn’t move, and tie together at the back to keep it in place.
• Thread the wool onto darning needle, and thread through the hoop, going through both layers of mesh, continue until hoop is neatly covered. (When re-threading needle, you may need to go over the area you have just finished, to cover any joins).
• Place a loop of wool at the top to hang dream catcher from.
• Untie underneath and carefully cut of all the mesh ends at the back, leaving the front intact.
• Tie double strands of wool at each side and the bottom.  Thread beads, tie a knot to hold them in place and glue feathers to finish.