Title of Lesson: Clothespin Worry Dolls
Medium: Clothespins, Yarn, Sharpie Markers
Reason for Lesson: Lesson was created to teach the students about
how art can be a great gift to give someone else, and how there are many
different mediums that you can use to create art.
Elements of Art:
You can talk about color, shape, and repetition. The repetition of wrapping the
yarn around the clothespins can create the look of a piece of clothing (ie.
Shirt, pants), and the yarn “loose” on the top gives the impression of hair.
Using the same medium (yarn) in different ways can create very different
things. Making worry dolls provides a great opportunity for storytelling, to
discuss coping, and the repetitive, patterned nature of wrapping the yarn
around the clothespin can be soothing and calming.
Prep Time: baggies for individual students will be made by
the coordinator for the docents to hand out in class. Baggie will contain the
clothespin, and yarn.
Class Time: 1 hour
Materials: Clothespins, yarn, pipe cleaners, Sharpie
markers, glue, plastic baggies
Instructions to Lead
Lesson:
Worry Dolls: in Spanish, Muñeca Quitapenas (dolls
that remove worry) sometimes referred to as trouble dolls are a traditional
Guatemalan toy that are small, colorful little people that a person puts under
their pillow after telling them something that’s bothering them, and then goes
to bed. Overnight, the worry dolls are said to worry in the person’s place,
letting them sleep peacefully. Worry dolls are used to help children ease their
minds.
1 1. Wrap
& twist a pipe cleaner around the clothespin to create arms. Cut to size
for arm length.
2. Begin wrapping your clothespin
with yarn. Wrap over the pipe cleaner as well.
3. When wrapping gets to the
waist, you can start wrapping each “leg” individually.
4. Wrap the other leg.
5. Use markers, colored pencils,
or paint to add a facial expression, hair, skin tone, shoes, etc. Cut a heart
out of the felt and glue to the front.
