Keeping Their Hand In!

It is important to help children develop all their senses, and in one class I worked in last term, the teacher was using a Feely Tub. The idea is that a child can put their hand inside, and feel an object and guess what it is – or try to describe it so others can guess. The teacher was also using the tub for a maths game, where the children were drawing out numbered cards to use in their addition.

But the teacher lamented the high cost of this kit. “We are sharing a set of 4 tubs across the classes” she said.

I discovered that for a set of 4 tubs you can pay anything up to £36. This seemed rather excessive to me.

They are just plastic tubs inside fabric bags, after all. So I dug out a couple of old tee shirts and some empty yogurt buckets [from Lidl, the 1000g size] and a length of elastic.

First cut off the sleeves. Now measure the height of your yogurt pot [mine was 14cm] and the diameter of the top [also 14cm] Add the height to ½ the diameter [14 +7 = 21] That’s the height of your side piece Measure round the top and subtract 1 [43-1 = 42] That’s the width. Now cut out your main piece, measure the width along the bottom hemmed edge. Stand the pot on one sleeve and draw round to get a circle for the base.

Sew up the sides, then pin the circle round the raw edge and sew in place. The hemmed edge will become the channel along the top. Thread some elastic [half the width, that’s 21cm] through the channel and knot it. Slide the sleeve right up over the tub.

The gathered edge will tighten neatly to form an elasticated circular hole at the top through which you can put objects [and the children can put their hands! I used my fancy embroidery machine to label the tubs – but that’s obviously not essential. For two tubs you need one teeshirt [for a 5 year old] and about 50cm of elastic

I made four inside an hour – and they have already been put to good use in school. And no, I’m not planning to go into business!