For my local community

[AussieMade]

Back in the 20/21 December/January Holidays, I was honored to be asked to come back to one of our local Primary School Aged Child Care Centres (7-12yo) which my children attend to do some leather work with them. I found out that they were having a medieval theme day so I instantly thought of getting them to make the Mini Dragon Head from Dieselpunk.ro. With permission from Tony to use his pattern. I started to mark out, punch (0.8mm individual hole punch) and cut out all the pieces required from a bag of mixed scrap kangaroo leathers.

Now to put this into perspective.....

We had a total of 55 students in the program that day with about around 35 taking part. I cut out aprox 70 sets with varying colours and textures with a total of about 4185 individual holes punched taking many, many hours and very sore hands to complete. In the end it was worth it. 

All the kids had to do was chose their leather and stitch the pieces together using saddle stitch. I was amazed how fast some of the kids tool to stitching using two needles, although some had troubles most were amazing.

Have a look at the job these kids done. I still see some hanging off bags around the school and child care facility. The second pic is all the cut and hole punched sets

Hopefully I have sparked interest in some of these kids to eventually learn leathercraft.  

[billybopp]

Awwwww.  That's awesome!   I bet they had a blast making those!

- Bill

[chuck123wapati]

That was an awesome thing to do !  Darn right it was worth it!

[toxo]

Well done that man. Nothing better than teaching a child something and then watching them race away with it.

[fredk]

Well done.

You know you'll be asked back and will have to this again don't you?

[AussieMade]

On 6/29/2021 at 1:16 AM, fredk said:

Well done.

You know you'll be asked back and will have to this again don't you?

Thanks.

My third time now, Last time I made some cuff band with them, I still see some of them around s well, that's been near two years since I done that one with them. The first time I made some little coin purses with them. 

I would love to go back, I donated all the tools and leather to them as well. I have never asked for any payment from the child care service. If the children are having fun and learning a lost trade  that's all that matters. I will be more than happy to go back and do a few more days with them.

On 6/29/2021 at 12:34 AM, toxo said:

Well done that man. Nothing better than teaching a child something and then watching them race away with it.

For sure. It has been some of the best learning experiences for me as well.

[AussieMade]

On 6/28/2021 at 10:29 PM, chuck123wapati said:

That was an awesome thing to do !  Darn right it was worth it!

Thanks. It was most definitely worth it for me to see their faces when they said they couldn't do it, but got it in the end. Some kids took a little longer than others, but time isn't everything.

[AussieMade]

On 6/28/2021 at 8:42 PM, billybopp said:

Awwwww.  That's awesome!   I bet they had a blast making those!

- Bill

They did for sure. Trying to figure out what to do with them next time. Probably something a little quicker I think. I was doing it in groups of 6 kids. ( I had a helper that day as well as my daughter who knew how to make them) But we were still averaging 5-6 kids per hour. so it was a very long day. 

[billybopp]

9 hours ago, AussieMade said:

They did for sure. Trying to figure out what to do with them next time. Probably something a little quicker I think. I was doing it in groups of 6 kids. ( I had a helper that day as well as my daughter who knew how to make them) But we were still averaging 5-6 kids per hour. so it was a very long day. 

If you've got some letter stamps and a snap setter, a customized wristband might be nice and simple.

- Bill

[JayEhl]

Several fun looking kid projects at the Tandy Library, too.   

https://tandyleather.com/blogs/leathercraft-library

You could even challenge the more ambitious students into carving trading cards. There is a Fb page for leather trading cards that I think Jim Linnell started Don't have the link handy but should be easy enough to find.