We tried these for the first time last year in preschool. This was a group of 4 and 5 year olds and not only did they love the process (and the reveal!) but look at the results! Incredible.
I took inspiration from several tutorials I found online and on youtube and mixed them together to make it easy for little hands. My hands were soapy and wet the whole time, so I have very few pictures of the process.
Materials and Supplies:
- Wool roving in at least 5 colors. If you want it to look like a rock, make sure you have a brown or gray for the outer layer. You will use less than an ounce in total.
- Dish soap
- Large bowl
- Water, warm and hot to add gradually
- bubble wrap (optional)
Step One:
Using the color of roving you want for the center of the geode, roll a small piece into a ball about the size of a lime. Anything goes here, so all of these descriptions are approximate. Choose another color and a piece of wool a few inches longer than the first color. Wrap it around the wool ball to completely cover. Choose a third color and wrap it around across the first color to make the fibers cross each other. Keep changing colors and keep wrapping until you have a fluffy wool ball the size of a grapefruit. A little larger than that is fine too, but if you can't hold it easily, it will be hard to felt. Use at least 5 colors if you can, and end on a dark color if you want it to look like a geode.
Step Two:
Fill a large bowl about half way with very warm water. This should be comfortably warm, and depending on the age of the participants, you will adjust the temperature accordingly. The warmer the water, the quicker it will felt together. Add a few squirts of dish soap to the water and swirl around to mix. Its also nice to lay a bowl on the table in front of each person to catch all the drips and to use to wipe their arms if water starts to run down them.
Put the wool ball in the palm of your hand and cup the other hand around to make a cage for the wool. I told the kids it was kind of like making a snowball. With the wool secure in your hand, dunk it in the water and hold it under for a few seconds to fully saturate. Then lift the wool out of the water, keeping it safe in the cage of your hands, give it a gentle squeeze to get most of the water out and add a squirt of dish soap to the wool.
Step Three:
Now the felting begins! Gently squeeze and turn and pat the wool between your palms, always keeping it safe in the "cage." I found that kids really understood the concept if I described it as being a little fragile and needing to stay safe in their hand cage.
Roll the ball, pat it, squish it, but keep it in a ball shape. If it flattens, just pat it back into shape. Roll and squeeze or a few minutes, then dunk it in the water again and if it seems like all the soap has washed out, add a little more. When the water gets cool, add some HOT water and mix it in.
With little hands, I kept a bowl of hot soapy water and occasionally dunked each child's wool ball in the hot water for them.
It takes about 15 minutes of alternating between dunking in soapy water, rolling in the palm of your hands, and sometimes rolling on bubble wrap, if you have it. As you feel the ball starting to firm up, start applying more pressure.
Step Four:
When the ball starts to feel really firm, take it to the sink and rinse it thoroughly with cold water. You'll know it is clean when the water running out of it isn't soapy any more. Roll each ball up in towel and squeeze to get most of the water out, then let dry. If you're impatient or really excited, toss them in the dryer with some towels to help speed up the process.
When they are dry, it is time to cut them open! Use very sharp scissors and make small cuts down the middle until you are able to cut it all the way through. On some small geodes I was able to cut it with my sewing scissors all the way through without snipping through the layers first. The larger ones took a little more time though. You can also use a very sharp knife, just not a serrated one!
Step Five:
THE REVEAL!!! This is the best part. The kids gathered around as I handed out the geodes and they opened them up to show their friends what the insides looked like. This part is so fun!
I hope you give this a try!
