It’s almost the end of the school year and a lot of people are starting to think about teacher gifts or something special for an end of the year classroom project. This collaborative wall hanging for kids feels like one of the most special projects we’ve done in a long time. I am soooo in love with it. This wall hanging was made by a group that visited our studio for a school fundraiser.  Their one ask was to work on something collaborative they could gift to their school at the end.

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Immediately this collaborative idea for a wall hanging inspired by nature popped into my head. One of our amazing teachers, Olivia (aka The Creative Native on IG) had made this incredible bouquet below, using rubber bands around an embroidery hoop and adding wool roving and fresh flowers.  I loved the idea so much and was thinking about ways to give it more longevity. Here’s what I came up with.

Here’s what you’ll need…

Supplies

An embroidery hoop. It can be whatever size you want. We wanted to go big because it was for a big group. These could easily be made into smaller individual pieces.

sticks

yarn and string

wire, beads, wool roving, and other embellishments

tags and markers (we use this tag punch all the time)

a glue gun

Steps

The first step for this wall hanging is to prepare the embroidery hoop. I did this before our guests came. I took some string and secured it around the inner band of the embroidery hoop. I had a really hard time getting the string to stay on the hoop without loosening so I ended up glue gunning each strand as I wrapped it. This felt a little strange at first but I didn’t want it to fall off and eventually I found an easy rhythm gluing the string to the outside of the band. I went around until I felt I had a sufficient spider web of string to stick pieces through. Then I replaced the outer band of the embroidery hoop around the inner band.

Next I demonstrated to the families at the event to spend time wrapping and embellishing their sticks to make them special, and to make sure to add a tag that said a word or picture that expressed how they feel about their school. Some kids wrapped the stick with yarn, some with yarn and wire, some with yarn, wire and beads. It really varied.

Lastly, the kids and adults were invited to find a place for their stick by moving it in-between the string web. It was really easy!

Watching this collaborative nature wall hanging come together was so beautiful. Everyone chipped in and the feeling it created was so nice. I really didn’t want it to leave the studio.

I mean, can you blame me?

Fortunately, we have big plans for making an even bigger collaborative wall hanging in our new studio and I can wait. It’s going to be so magical.

If you like this idea, please give it a try and share it with the teachers at your school. It’s really a beautiful addition to any classroom or hallway. Thanks for reading along. And if you try one, please tag me on instagram at mericherryla. I’d love to see. xo, Meri