Our Girl Scout Cookie Booth: What's Working, and What's Not

My Girl Scout troop had our second cookie booth last weekend, and all last week, my two worked hard to implement what they'd learned from our first cookie booth at Wal-mart and make some improvements.

It was decided that MORE color and MORE decoration would draw MORE attention, so working from a rainbow theme, the kids decided to pin play silks in rainbow colors to the front of the otherwise plain blue felt tablecloth:

That orange, by the way, had to be made fresh--where did our orange play silk go?!?

And there was also some hijinks involved in the construction:

The kids also noted that a Girl Scout who wasn't tied to the table could potentially entice over customers whose path wasn't carrying them right by, so I introduced them to the concept of the sandwich board. I'll have a full tutorial over at CAGW later, but in short, Will and Syd each composed a poem about Girl Scout cookies, painted them onto large pieces of cardboard, and then the Girl Scouts who manned the booth all took turns wearing it:

Seriously, how CUTE is that?!?

And here's the booth!

I love that you can really tell that it's kid-constructed, even though our troop is on the younger side. It's messier than it would be if the parents were controlling it, of course, but cookie selling is a girl-led business, after all, and it's wonderful to watch the kids visibly growing in skills during the course of the sale. One kid learned to count back change. One kid, who at the start of the booth was too shy to speak to customers, by the end of the booth was eagerly asking each one if they wanted their cookies gift-wrapped.

I also have to give props to how incredibly patient every single person who came by our booth was with the girls. One woman stood by and smiled as I demonstrated counting back change to a kid, then put everything back so that she could do it herself, then put everything back and demonstrated it again when she couldn't figure it out the first time, then put everything back and let her try again until she got it correct. Another couple let me hold a shy kid by the shoulders and prompt her with every single thing that she said so that she could get the hang of interacting with customers. More than one customer asked a kid a simple question ("Which is your favorite cookie?" or "Do you like being a Girl Scout?") and stood patiently while the kid took absolutely ages to think up the answer that she wanted to give. Not a single person acted a bit fussed to be dealing with these eager, fumbling, unsure, learning-as-they-went, clumsy kiddos.

And, of course, I'm learning as I go, too! Some things that haven't worked out so far:

• offers of free gift wrapping, Valentine's cards, ribbon, etc. This might work if the kids used the offers to up-sell cookies, or entice customers over to our table, especially with those pre-Valentine's Day booths, but the kids in my troop are too young, and already have too much in their heads that they have to say. 
• our stock. I don't know if our council is unusually short-supplied this year, or if this is a perennial problem, but I have not been able to get cases of cookies from them when I need them--I'm currently wavering about whether or not to cancel a cookie booth tomorrow, on account of we're out of Thin Mints and there are no more to be had. And don't even get me started with the gluten-free Toffee Tastics--they're apparently sold out nationwide! Next year, I'm going to make a much larger pre-order, and try to avoid dealing with restocking as much as possible.
• change. MORE dollar bills! ALL THE MORE dollar bills!
• prizes for buying five boxes. The prizes are kid-made and super-cute, and everyone is pleased when they've been told that they've earned one (most memorable prize-related moment: the five college women who came up, one woman planning to treat each of her friends to a box of cookies, who were so stinking thrilled when I told them that, due to the special circumstances, I'd let them EACH pick a prize, and who made such a happy fuss about picking their prizes, that every single kid at the booth was beaming by the time they finally completed their purchase and walked away), but again, the kids had too much to think about to market the prizes or try to up-sell the customers into them.

Some things that have worked out well:

• the booth itself. The kids put a huge amount of effort into decorating that booth, and although I don't necessarily know that it drew in any sales, we did get loads of compliments about it, so I know that it was noticeable!
• free samples. Another parent was in charge of this, and it definitely brought in some sales. Considering that we paid for the cookies that we gave away using money from our troop's donation box, it was well worth it. Next time, I'll suggest only offering samples of cookies that we need to sell more of--I have more boxes of Rah-Rah Raisins than I'm comfortable with this late in the season, but I'm flat-out of Thin Mints, dang it.
• that donation box. Always have a troop donation box! Lots of people have put their change into it, and it's money that goes straight to our troop, with no required cut to our council.
• that sandwich board. Again, I don't one hundred percent know if it brought in any sales by itself, but it definitely let people across the foyer of the grocery store know that there was a cookie booth nearby, and it gave the younger kids, especially, something to do when their brains got tired of focusing on customer service.
• "Please buy Girl Scout cookies!" I don't know how you can sell cookies without assigning a kid to make eye contact with passers-buy and call this out. It's essential, and I think it's a great experience for the kids.

Speaking of cookies... my kids are still hoping to collect donations for Operation Cookie Drop, which gives Girl Scout cookies to our soldiers. Four dollars buys a box, although more or less is also welcome. The Paypal Donate button is at the top left of my blog. If you've already donated--thank you! You can be on the lookout for a thank-you email, written by the kids, in your email inbox one day soon, as soon as I can entice them away from sledding and balloon animals (yes, that's a thing right now) and board games and building blocks.

Work Plans for the Week of February 16, 2015: Mongolia and Hoosier Heroines

Half an hour into our Monday, and the schedule's already blown, thanks to a combination of snow (yay!) and car trouble (boo!). We'll actually be having a little staycation here at home today and Tuesday, and I'll just wait and see if I fill up those out-of-the-house spots with schoolwork here, or simply let them be. After all, one must have ample time for snowmen and sledding, mustn't one?

In addition to the written schedule, each day the children also have independent practice in typing, piano keyboard, and Chinese, and they each have a book assignment, ranging from Mongolian folk tales to picture books of Chinese characters to a bizarre 1950s-era children's how-to manual, which actually explains, step by step and remarkably clearly, how to do things like clean the house and write a thank-you letter and make a grilled cheese sandwich, etc. I usually just have the children talk to me about the book that they've read, but this week I'll also be asking them to write Chinese characters and make me a grilled cheese sandwich.

MONDAY: No Hub, no Girl Scout meeting. However... snow! In math, I'll be demonstrating to both children the Girl Scout cookie booth essential skill of counting back change. Next year, I'll be demonstrating this skill to all my Girl Scouts BEFORE our cookie booths! Our troop's two oldest girls (both named Willow, incidentally--it was wonderful, at our last cookie booth, to call out "Willow!" and have TWO big helpful girls at my disposal!), can handle money and make change with an adult standing at her elbow to supervise, but they both simply subtract--fine for the easy math of multiples of four, but one day out in the world the math won't be so simple.

This week's horse breed is the Abaco Barb. I'm really pleased with the infographics that the children have been producing for their horse research; I feel like this is a useful skill well learned!

Syd is starting a block of short story writing; I'd like her to produce a few written and illustrated picture books this spring. Will is engaged this week in another odd little essay prompt for a local contest--she's really improving in her ability to write to a prompt, and after this season of essay contests is over, I look forward to asking her to choose her own subjects for essays, as well.

TUESDAY: No Robotics Club. However... snow!

WEDNESDAY: YES horseback riding! You'll notice that aerial silks hasn't been on my list of weekly classes for a few weeks. At a recent Family Meeting we discussed extracurriculars; although I'm willing to enroll the children in whatever they're interested in and want to work at, I've noticed that the children lose their appreciation for these opportunities when they're signed up for more than one a day, and so I asked them to make some choices, assuring them that they could revisit these choices at the end of every session. Both children chose to drop aerial silks classes for the time being (they still spend ages of time on our at-home rig each day, and I might explore Youtube to see if there are any demonstrations or tutorials that might appeal to them), and Syd also chose to drop horseback riding. Instead, she'll be taking gymnastics on Thursdays. I found these choices so interesting because, of course, both children could have continued in horseback riding, and both children could have taken gymnastics, and in previous weeks I think they'd both have been eager to. I think they took our discussions of their schedules and their commitments to them that we'd been having in preparation for our Family Meeting to heart, however, and I could see them really thoughtfully choosing only what they really wanted to do.

For whatever reason (probably because I kept scheduling it for Fridays, which is the least productive time to put the "serious" schoolwork), we keep not listening to the Story of the World chapters on Mongolia and working on the comprehension questions. We MUST do it this week, however, as World Thinking Day is on Sunday, and my Girl Scout troop, thankfully led in this by another mom, is presenting on Mongolia. The mom has done an incredible job teaching the children about Mongolia and organizing their displays and presentation. My two need to create displays on Mongolia's map and flag this week, and I can't pass up the opportunity presented by this unit to cover those Story of the World chapters. After all, who doesn't like learning about Genghis Khan?!?

Syd's Minecraft Homeschool session is over, so while Will is working on her essay, I'm filling in Syd's extra schoolwork slot with activities that I know that she'll especially like--playing a game with me, and doing a craft project. I'll also need her help with her Trashion/Refashion garment off and on this week, so easy, fun little "assignments" like those won't interfere with any work that I need her to do on that.

THURSDAY: After the madness of the past few weeks, I'm relieved that this looks to be our only hectic day this week. Gym Day will likely include some extra World Thinking Day rehearsal, and the start of gymnastics class overlapping with a Girl Scout cookie booth will definitely require some juggling. Math Mammoth (decimals and geometry), a keyboard lesson with Hoffman Academy, and, for Will, the writing of a rough draft are the only added things to this day.

FRIDAY: I was pleased that the children rated math class as one of the extracurriculars that simply couldn't be dropped (ice skating is still also on Fridays, but only until the end of this session. Our rink is only seasonal, sigh); they love their teacher, and many of their closest friends also take the class, which devotes a full hour to board games at the end--how could that NOT be a hit?

We're still using First Language Lessons for grammar. In addition, these Word Ladders are a fun way for a kid to practice a little logical deduction and stretch her spelling skills while her sister is on the ice.

SATURDAY/SUNDAY: The children love their Saturday tradition of Sydney's ballet class, something "fun" with their father (last week it was Wonderlab, and the week before I believe that it may have been a buffet restaurant), and then Chinese class. Our local indie theater is showing all the Oscar-nominated short films as a film festival this weekend, so we'll likely be attending that, and then Sunday is World Thinking Day!

And hopefully by Sunday, I'll also have this Trashion/Refashion show garment in hand...

My Latest: Bookmarks, Play Dough, and Reusable Tri-Folds

My tutorials on Crafting a Green World this week all came from projects that I had to do, anyway. I made another couple of batches of rainbow play dough for an etsy order, reminding me that I'd never before shared my fool-proof play dough recipe on CAGW:

My secret ingredient is powdered tempera. It makes the play dough as vivid as a crayon and as light as fluff.

Helping the children prepare for their Girl Scout cookie booths, I also realized that I'd never shared the long-promised tutorial to make the reusable chalkboard tri-fold display boards that we rely so much on for so many things:

As part of their Girl Scout cookie booth, the kids wanted to make bookmarks from old cookie boxes to give away as "prizes" to customers who bought at least five boxes of cookies, and their bookmarks turned out so cute that I posted them!

I'm pretty impressed with myself that I managed to whip out THREE tutorials during one of my busiest weeks.

Next week, I've got round-ups in the works for rainbow crafts for St. Patrick's Day and train-themed crafts just because, and maybe, just maybe, I'll have another leotard or cape-related tute, because although I've been deeply focused on Girl Scout cookie business so far this month, I MUST buckle down on the kids' Trashion/Refashion Show garments--I've only got a couple of weeks left to get them done, photographed, and submitted!!!

The Emergency Escape Plan, and other Adventures in First Aid

The First Aid Girl Scout badge is one that the kids have been working on off and on for a while now. They've taken a field trip to a fire station, completed biographies of Florence Nightingale, taken the class on medicinal plants and outdoor first aid that the Brownie badge requires, read a ton about emergency and medical personnel (this was the academic lens through which we completed most of this unit), and memorized the information that they'd be asked if they called 911 (the trickiest one is location; unless they're home or at another familiar place, they need to concentrate on observing and describing landmarks. I've done a lot of stopping at random street corners on walks and saying things like, "Okay, tell the 911 operator where you are").

When we moved to our new house, we found in one of the top cupboards a set of blueprints from the house's 1980s remodel. I plan to frame and display the nicest copy, but one of the copies was so gross and stained that I gave it to Will with the assignment to map two emergency escape routes from each room in the house, and our emergency meet-up spot. I could tell that she thought it was VERY cool to be writing on the real-live blueprint:

It didn't actually end up looking quite as informative as I'd hoped--

--but I mounted it in their playroom anyway, as a visual reminder.

Here's what we have left to do:

• Interview a medical professional. I had an interview scheduled for my troop with an ER doctor in Ft. Worth, Texas (soooo close to the Ebola case--she even had a suit of Ebola protection clothing to model for us!), but she had to cancel. Now I'm thinking of hitting up my Uncle Carlos, a doctor in Mexico, for a Skype interview.
• Study practical first aid. I'd been putting this off in hopes of coming across a children's first aid class, but they don't seem to exist, at least in our area. I plan now to simply have the children watch some instructional videos and read some kid-appropriate books. Perhaps I can set up this type of class myself for our troop after cookie season.
• Make a portable first-aid kit. I also want this to be an activity for my troop as a whole. I want them to make kits that will be small enough for each kid to keep it in her backpack, and ideally, I'd like the kids to find a charity that also would appreciate having these kits to hand out. This, too, will have to wait until after cookie season, primarily because the children can use some of their cookie profits to buy the supplies.

And here are the resources that we've used so far--remember, it's all backgroundy stuff, no real practical first aid information yet:

I was disappointed that so many of the books for these subjects are so babyish; surely there's a market for vividly telling older children what it's like to be a paramedic or firefighter or emergency room worker! I'm still on the lookout for that, as well as accurate fiction on the subject, as well as explanatory videos of medical procedures, especially if they're graphic--my kids have sensitive stomachs, and I'm determined to desensitize them.

And stay tuned--one day I'll finish up our practical first aid studies and then tell you about all the wonderful resources that I'll find for those, too!

P.S. The kids are still collecting donations for Operation Cookie Drop, which sends Girl Scout cookies to military personnel. Check out the Paypal Donate button at the top left of my blog if you'd like to contribute!

The Inaugural Girl Scout Cookie Booth

If I've been absent here more often than not this month, it's because I've been sucked down the Girl Scout cookie rabbit hole.

The kids are really into selling Girl Scout cookies. REALLY into it. They each have a goal of selling 200 boxes of cookies (I had to talk Syd down from making a goal of two THOUSAND boxes!), and they have been busting their butts to try to make that happen. I'm a little concerned, because they're each only at 114 boxes right now, and they have to split every order because they work as a team, so that's really more like 172 more boxes that they have to sell this month, but I digress...

Anyway, not only do the kids like this cookie-selling business, but it's also great for them. It's marketed as the world's largest girl-led business, and I can totally see that--the kids are learning about inventory, keeping accounts, managing money, marketing, sales techniques, philanthropy, figuring out how to meet their goals, and we haven't even talked about what their troop is going to do with their profits. That will be a whole bunch more planning and budgeting and philanthropy!

Of course, as young as the kids are, this is also a lot of work for the parents. And my whole troop is young. AND this is our first year in the cookie business! This is really stretching my abilities at money managing and keeping inventory and accounts, not to mention all the people skills that *I* have to practice as I assist the children. I'm not so much a people person, so it's kind of emotionally exhausting to do it for two hours at a stretch at a cookie booth, but good for me, too, of course.

The kids spent a lot of time last week preparing for their first Girl Scout cookie booth on Sunday. They didn't know what to expect, so I guided them into creating something like an academic fair display, since they've done those many times. Their centerpiece was a giant tri-fold menu that showcases each cookie:

I printed giant photos of each cookie (thank you, Google Image!).

The kids cut them out. Check out my reluctant cutter there!

They gave me the paper that they wanted for the background, and I glued and trimmed the background paper for them. They placed and taped the images and wrote the "menu."

They got a little distracted.

This was supposed to be an advertisement for buying cookies by the case, but we didn't have room for it on the table. I'm not sure what to do about that before our next booth.

 The kids also took photos of some of their Girl Scout friends, in uniform and holding several boxes of a cookie to recommend, and then I wrote each kid's quote next to her photo, along with her first name and age. That turned out particularly cute, I thought.

During their field trip to The Green Nursery last week, the kids picked up the idea to offer "prizes" to good customers, so I helped them make bookmarks out of empty cookie boxes:

A customer who purchased five boxes of cookies was invited to pick a prize.

And here the kids are at their booth!

Will did an amazing job with the customers--where did that shy little girl GO?!?--but Syd found it more of a challenge:

Good for her to stretch herself, though. People skills are VERY important!

Overall, the cookie booth went very well, although I wish now that we'd done a smaller-scale "practice" booth first; this Wal-mart booth was our biggest spot for the year, and we didn't meet the sales that I'd been told to expect. But now I know some things to encourage for next time: the kids had prizes for people who bought five boxes of cookies, for instance, but didn't tell the customers about them unless they purchased five boxes. At the next booth, the kids can announce that there are prizes, especially if they see a customer picking up three or four boxes to purchase. The kids also had a display for Operation Cookie Drop, but also didn't announce anything about it to their customers. At the next booth, the kids can ask customers if they'd also like to donate four dollars to OCD; Will started trying this while delivering a few pre-orders the next day, and although she didn't get any full $4 donations, one customer did let her keep the change from her purchase--that can definitely add up!

We've got another cookie booth this weekend, and the kids plan to spend more time this week refining their display; they want something on the front of that tablecloth, so I'll have to drag the felt out for them, and they need a way to fit in the extra advertising that was on that one display board that didn't fit their table.

Their booth is also on Valentine's Day, so I'm going to bring up the idea of doing some extra marketing towards that--the kids might want to encourage customers to buy cookies as a gift, perhaps with free gift wrapping or Valentine's Day cards. I have a list of Girl Scout cookie and wine pairings that I plan to print out.

And I have a HUGE piece of cardboard. I really, really, really want to make a sandwich board for a kid to wear...

P.S. Speaking of Operation Cookie Drop... The kids were looking for more ways to get donations, so I put a Paypal Donate button for Operation Cookie Drop up at the top left of my blog. A $4 donation will buy a box of Girl Scout cookies for our military. It's a way to get Girl Scout cookies into the hands of people who super want them, but aren't home to get them!

A Recipe for Children's Perfume (and Bubble Bath!)

Syd LOOOOOOOVES to make "children's perfume":

As you can see, it's really just a combination of flavored extracts and water, with funnels and REAL little bottles--the cute little glass bottles are very important, I'm told--and labels written on (Sydney's Vanilla Cupcake Perfume, etc.).

I actually don't own a ton of extracts--basically just vanilla, peppermint, and almond--so poor Syd's perfume recipes are limited, but if your kid was super into it, or if you wanted to let kids make perfume at a party, there are actually a ton of flavors. I wouldn't say no to some homemade orange/chocolate perfume, myself.

To make bubble bath instead of perfume, Syd says that you should use soap (we use Dr. Bronner's liquid soap) instead of water to mix with the extracts. 

This particular photo is from a few months ago, so I can also tell you that this stuff lasts, as I just emptied out a bottle that I recognize from this batch a couple of days ago, in a mass commandeering of all the little bottles so that I can make more alcohol ink. 

Because in this month, when I've got 700 boxes of Girl Scout cookies in my house and am running three different cookie booths for my troop, and am creating and sewing TWO Trashion/Refashion Show garments out of patterns that I still need to make, I also absolutely need to be thinking about how to make a faux stained glass TARDIS using picture frame glass, dyed school glue, and homemade alcohol ink.

I mean, right?

Cicadas in the Summer

I'm currently working on our homeschool photo portfolio for the 2013-2014 school year, and I'm spending an inordinately long time perusing my summer photos.

Such warm! Such green! Such outside!

During my perusal, I rediscovered these photos. I'd been inside or out, puttering on one thing or another, when the children called out to me--"Come see the cicada!"

Indiana is known for its cicadas, and we've got plenty of them, but even so, it's not so usual to see a live one, nice and green, freshly shorn of its old exoskeleton. I ran to get the camera, and shot these photos while Will took no notice, lost in her study:

Although warm and green would feel nice right now, we are nevertheless happy in our very first winter in our house. Will is planning a butterfly garden AND a koi pond, and I purchased far too many growing things that will arrive and expect to be planted in the spring.

Add to that a large future order of netting and steel mesh. I hear that chickens love gardens and raccoons love koi.

Work Plans for the Week of February 2, 2015: It's Girl Scout Cookie Time!!!

Who wants Girl Scout cookies?!?

We had a great homeschool week last week, with the kids getting all their schoolwork done, and leaving plenty of time for us to watch Indian superhero films, eat ice cream for dinner, go hiking, and play, play, play!

This week is all about the Girl Scouts, especially those cookies, 32 cases of which Will is currently dividing up in the family room. The kids have orders to deliver, money to manage, and a huge cookie booth at Wal-mart this weekend to prepare for and then run. Non-cookie work gets fitted in wherever it may.

Other academic work will consist of an assigned book for each kid each day (it's usually just something that I think will interest them, and they only have to read it and then talk about it with me), and daily practice of typing and piano.

MONDAY: We started this morning with a Girl Scout field trip to a local business. My friends Scott and Abby started their small natural baby store 8 years ago with just the two of them, and today it's a successful business with a storefront right on the square downtown, a warehouse for online orders, and a staff of part-time employees. They gave the kids a tour of both their spaces, discussed the benefits and challenges of managing your own business, walked the kids through their work flow, and answered all their nosy questions (yes, Will totally asked them how much money they make every month):

My two have already been thinking about how to apply their advice to their own cookie selling.

We went straight from the tour to our volunteer gig, where the kids worked hard and helped for two hours (with one small break for Saltines and peanut butter, and an Otter Pop at the end), and then we went straight to the big Girl Scout cookie delivery on the other side of town, to pick up our troop's initial order. It may surprise you to learn that I don't actually tend to run errands during our "school day," just because that's not how I want to spend our school time, but Girl Scout cookies are the exception, of COURSE. And now Will is in the other room with our troop's master order list, dividing the cases up by kid and filling out receipts to be signed by moms.

Other tasks to be completed today are research to make an infographic on Przewalski’s horse, math (Syd has Math Mammoth, and Will has a worksheet on equivalent fractions, to be used with fraction manipulatives), and the beginning of Syd's week in her Minecraft Homeschool class.

TUESDAY: Free day!!! Our day has already run so long that I'm actually going to encourage the children to leave today's math and science until this day. Other than that, we'll stay home and play until Will's evening Robotics Club.

WEDNESDAY: LEGO Club, horseback riding class, and Magic Tree House Club take up almost this entire day. On top of that, I'll only be asking the children to complete another lesson in Math Mammoth, and Will can continue to work on another essay contest.

THURSDAY: Again, we'll spend much of this day out and about. Will has a writing class that will take up much of the morning, and we'll go from there to our homeschool group's Gym Day at a local community center. The children will have their Hoffman Academy keyboard lesson, and can begin to work on the cookie booth that they'll be running this weekend.

FRIDAY: The children will have a grammar lesson using First Language Lessons, and they'll spend most of the morning at math class. Our Girl Scout troop will be presenting Mongolia for the Girl Scout World Thinking Day celebration later this month, so we'll be listening to the Mongolia chapters in The Story of the World on this day, and answering the comprehension questions. Will has ice skating class, and Syd should finish up her week's assignments in Minecraft Homeschool.

And there will be more cookie booth plans to plan!

SATURDAY/SUNDAY: On Saturday, Syd has ballet, then both children will do something special with Matt, and then they have Chinese. On Sunday, they'll be running a Girl Scout cookie booth at our town's Wal-mart, and Will also has chess club.

It's a busy week, I know! There's a lot of out and about in this week, which I get tired of, but the kids never do. It always amazes me that what I might see as scut work (selling cookies?!?) might be a major source of joy in their lives, and my attitude must therefore be adjusted accordingly. So out and about we will go, stand in the cold and sell cookies we will, and at the end of each day, well, kids who've been out and about all day need to go to bed early and get their rest...

...and their mommas need to watch TV and eat Girl Scout cookies!

My Latest: Boxes and Broken Toys

a round-up of oatmeal container crafts

a tutorial for building your own box set case from scratch

a review of the creepy post-Apocalyptic novel, Bird Box

and a tutorial for repairing the broken leg of a toy horse by inserting a metal pin

Now that it's February, you may expect that I will only be willingly discussing T-shirt leotards and Girl Scout cookies for the next month.

Girl Scout cookies!

T-shirt leotards!

At least February is a short month, right?

Recently Sewn, Kid Edition

Well, these aren't *very* recently sewn, since you can see our Christmas tree in the background of one photo, but they are among some of the things sewn by the kids in December.

Will started this project simply as a plain embroidery project, using a transfer of starbursts from my Jenny Hart Stitch-It Kit. After she'd finished the starbursts, she decided that she wanted to turn the project into a Christmas gift for Syd, so I traced out Sydney's name for her lightly in pencil (it occurs to me now that I should have encouraged Will to do the writing, herself. Ah, well...). I think Will did an excellent job embroidering Syd's name, in particular:

Aren't her stitches nice and even?

She then used my sewing machine to turn the embroidery into a little pillow.

Syd is constantly making doll clothes, and I catch photos of them only rarely, so I feel lucky to have an image of this creation:

Syd mostly likes to use tape and ties to construct her clothing, but she's recently begun to add in some hand-sewing, as well. 

More recently, the kids have abandoned sewing projects for elaborate block building, at-home aerial silks performances, and their ever-elaborate imaginative games involving toy horses. I hope to incorporate them into some aspects of sewing their Trashion/Refashion Show garments, however, so hopefully soon you'll see even more examples of children's sewing projects!