Family Craft – Little Gift Bags for Seeds

My original intention for today’s post was to share a family craft – little gift bags you can embellish and pack with garden seeds.  It’s a fun way to get the kids together to make something easy, while discussing gardening and the marvelous magic of seeds.

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I decided to enhance the gift bag idea to include seeds of wisdom. This enhancement was sparked by a gathering I recently attended with homeschooling Moms. We discussed our curriculum choices and shared tips and ideas for structuring our days.  There may also have been wine and cheese involved.  Bonus! 

Words of Wisdom

One of these lovely ladies shared that she selects a ‘word for the week’ and encourages her daughter to use that unfamiliar word throughout the week.  They look up the definition together and discuss ways to incorporate the word into conversation or writings.  It could be an unfamiliar word that is encountered through reading (Mom’s or child’s), or just a fun word that the world needs to hear more of.  Who doesn’t want to hear ‘highfalutin’ more often?  I thought this idea was wonderful and decided to incorporate it into my family craft post today. 

In addition to nature’s seeds, there’s also something magical about words as seeds.  Words can plant ideas into our head that have far-reaching and imaginative consequences.  Words enrich our knowledge and ability to communicate with each other, and they can illuminate or degrade Truth.  If we are particular about the words we use, they can benefit our lives immensely (as I discussed in this post).  Let us plant some wonderful words in our children’s minds and watch them flourish. 

With that goal in mind, I thought I’d offer another spin on these sweet gift bags – let’s call them ‘Seeds of Wisdom” bags!  Place small papers with interesting words written on them in a gift bag for your child (or spouse, friend).  Each week, have the child pick a word from the bag and try to use it as much as they can that week.  Perhaps even spur a reward for using the word a set number of times that week. 

Be sure to instill the conviction that words have a power to change the world, if only we tap into them.

The pen is mightier than the sword.    

Edward Bulwer-Lytton

How to Assemble Gift Bags

I made my little gift bags with farmhouse style in mind, but you can certainly design them to your own tastes & style. Have fun with it by setting up an assembly line with your family – one person cuts the fabric square patches, another pins them to the bags, and another person sews the patches on. Another helper could stuff the bags with garden seeds (or wisdom seeds).

Supplies:

• Gather small muslin gift bags (I used 5″ x 3.5″ bags similar to these)
• Gather scraps of fabric to use for patches. It’s a great idea to use scraps on hand or collect a stack of Fat Quarters (like these) for variety
• Pinking shears, sewing needle and thread

Steps:

• Cut the fabric scraps into 1″ squares using a pair of pinking shears to get the zig-zag edges
• Hand-sew the patches onto the front of the bags wherever you’d like (be sure to sew onto one layer of fabric, not through both layers of the bag). The hand-stitching gives the bags sweet character.

I hope that you give this craft a try and plant those seeds of wisdom in your children….then watch them flourish, just like beautiful flowers.