ASL I Love You Hair Band

What You Need:

• Paper 
• Pencil
• Felt in two colors (we used white and red)
• Scissors
• Needle and thread
• Elastic hair band

What You Do:

1. Using the paper and pencil, help your child draw a small hand pattern. A hand about two inches wide works well for this craft. Next, draw a pattern for a heart small enough to fit into the palm of the hand. A heart about ½ an inch across works well.
2. Ask your child to cut a hand from one color felt. Then, cut out the heart from another color felt. We used red but you could easily use pink or purple or whatever color your child wants.
3. Have her knot the thread and sew the heart to the palm of the hand. She can do this by making just one or two stitches in the center of the heart.
4. Tell her that she shouldn't tie off or cut the thread. Instead, fold down the second and third fingers (middle finger and ring finger) and use one or two stitches to sew each fingertip down about even with the top edge of the heart.
5. Now she can sew the hand to the elastic hair band. If she's using a hair band made from a heavy piece of rounded elastic, she shouldn't not sew through the elastic. Tell her to loop the thread around the hair band and stitch through the hand and heart. Repeat several times to.

Help your child make several "I Love You" hair bands as gifts. Instead of using a felt heart in the palm of the hand, you can also mix things up with a heart-shaped button or a sequin.