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Week 08 · Mend It

Family Helper Day

Family Helper Day: Mending afternoon
// Buttons, laces and clothes that last
⏱ about 15 min

Family Helper Day: Mending afternoon

Hazel the Hedgehog spreads a cloth on the den table. The mending basket sits in the middle. "Today we fix real things."

Ferris the Fox adds a new row to the Helper chart: One thing mended. "Every mended button is a shirt that gets to stay."

Hazel hands you a spare button. "Find something at home that needs you. A button, a lace, a messy drawer. Your grown-up is right beside you."

  1. Look over: buttons, laces, seams, zippers.
  2. Button: grown-up threads and knots, you go up and down, needle back in its case.
  3. Laces: bow knot, double knot, fingers for stuck knots. New lace: bottom holes first.
  4. Fold in three moves, hang nice shirts by the shoulders, store by kind.
◇ MEND ONE REAL THING TOGETHER
Step 1: Do a look-over of the family's clothes and shoes with your grown-up. Make a list.
Step 2: Pick one job from the list. A loose button, a frayed lace or one messy drawer.
Step 3: Button job: your grown-up threads the needle and knots it. You sew up and down five or six times.
Step 4: Lace job: swap the frayed lace. Bottom holes first, even ends, bow knot at the top.
Step 5: Drawer job: empty it and fold everything in three moves. Put it back by kind.
Step 6: Put every tool back in the mending basket. Needle in its case, pins in the cushion.
Step 7: Check the Helper chart row together.
Safety first
A grown-up threads the needle, ties the knots, trims thread and stays beside you.
Needle in its case the moment you stop. Pins in the cushion. Scissors are for grown-ups.
Not ready for a needle? Do the lacing card, the lace job or the drawer job.
For a grown-up
Set out the basket before you start so nothing sharp is searched for mid-job.
Let your child lead the steps and say them aloud. Step in only for the needle and knots.
Not ready for a needle? A lacing card with yarn counts as the button job.
MENDING DAY CHECK
  • Read the question.
  • Tap your answer.
You finished sewing. What is the very next thing you do?
The new lace ends are uneven at the bottom. What do you do?
Which job can you do if a needle is not right for you yet?
How many times do you go up and down through the button holes?
WHY THIS EXERCISEFive or six passes hold a button for a long time. No lump of thread.
StatementTrue or false?
The grown-up threads the needle on Family Helper Day.?
Tools can stay out on the table after mending.?
Folding a drawer counts as a mending job.?
WHY THIS EXERCISEMending is fixing and also putting away. Both keep the home safe and neat.

One thing mended, Helper! Next week Samantha the Squirrel leads the Clean Up Crew: wipe, sweep and sort.

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