Wet Felted Wool Jingle Balls

I love having toys made of natural fibres for my children, especially my babies.  They are beautiful, durable and often safer alternatives to the regular plastic stuff.  But.  They're also pretty expensive.  Luckily, there are a lot of toys that you can make yourself...like Wet Felted Wool Jingle Balls.  These are a great gift for babies.  They're soft and perfect for chewing on, they're visually appealing and the muted jingling sound is pretty soothing.  As an added bonus, they're super easy to make so you can involve your children in the process.  What better way to get kids excited about giving than to have them give a gift that they made themselves?

Supplies Needed:

• wool roving (in many colours if possible)
• 2 large bowls or a double sink
• dish soap
• small bell
• small towels (for each child's work space)
• felting needle (optional)

Step 1:

Wrap wool roving around your bell.  Make sure to wrap it in different directions as this will make it easier for the fibres to grab on to one another (which is what felting is).  It should be quite large when you are done because as it felts, it will shrink down significantly.  Go for at least double the size you want your finished ball to be.

 Step 2:

Fill one bowl (or sink) with hot water and the other with cold. Set out towels (these will minimize the soapy water that inevitably makes its way out of the bowls and onto the table, floor, cat, small children, etc.) 

Step 3:

Put a little bit of dish soap on your wool roving.  This make it easier to handle without ruining its shape. 

Step 4: 

Dunk the ball in the hot water.  Bring it back out and start rubbing it in your hands.  You want to encourage it to take a round shape so treat it sort of like you would a snowball when you're rounding it out.  Start with lighter pressure until the outer layer of roving starts to felt.  Once that happens, you cam be a little rougher without worrying about the roving coming unwound.  

Step 5:

Dunk it in the cold water then continue working at it with your hands.  The drastic change in temperature will encourage them felting process.

Repeat steps 4 and 5 (adding more dish soap as needed) until the wool has shrunk down significantly and you have a hard, round ball.  

When this is done, I like to tie it into the toe of a pair of pantihose and throw it in the washing machine for one cycle.  This can felt it down further which is helpful when kids have been doing it.

Optional Step 6:

Use a felting needle to add embellishments to your jingle ball.  You could also sew ribbons to the bottom to make it a fun throwing toy.  I decided to needle felt pictures on ours.  This is something older children might enjoy trying as well.  Just make sure you supervise and warn them that those needles are SHARP (ask me how I know!).

Give it to your baby and watch them enjoy!