Heart Pixie Teaches Children Kindness – Make a Needle Felted Pixie

I made this needle felted pixie for Valentine’s Day because I’m planning on focusing on the character trait of ‘kindness’ for February.  My daycare children adore it when I tell them stories using gnomes and pixies from our Nature Table. At the beginning of the month, I change the scene on the Nature Table.  It usually includes a handmade woodland character surrounded by a few natural items.

I choose a character trait or concept that I feel would benefit my group at the present time.  This month I’m going to make up a story about a pixie who shows kindness towards her friends. She will face three different situations where she chooses to act kindly (waiting for a friend, sharing her pinecones and including a new chickadee in a game).

I’ll tell the story several times over the month and leave our heart pixie standing on the Nature Table. The Nature Table story and display are a good way to revisit a concept again and again for the children.  Seeing the pixie reminds them of the story and thus the character trait.

If you are new to the Nature Table and Needle Felting  this video will be helpful.

Directions for Needle Felting a Heart Pixie:

Roll a piece of wool roving into a tight ball to form the head.

Needle felt the head until it is firm.  Make sure the size of your head is a good relation to the size of your acorn hat.  Leave a section of wool roving attached to the head roll because we will use it to wrap the body.

Shape a pipe cleaner into a stick body.  I added a round base to the legs because my pixie will have a hoop skirt.

Attach the wool roving head to the stick pipe cleaner body by wrapping the end of the roving around the torso. I did a figure eight pattern over the chest and shoulders so the head would be secure. Add wooden bead hands if you desire.  I put a dab of glue on the end of the pipe cleaner and then slid the bead into place. I felted the wool onto the body shape.

Next, I chose some wool roving with a gentle pink mottled pattern. Separate the wool into smaller pieces for your pixie.

Wrap the pieces of wool roving around the body of the pixie.  Felt the wool until it is dense and firm.  Add wool pieces until the pixie is the thickness you desire.

You can shape the wool by felting some areas more than others.  I gave my pixie a waist using this method.  Just keep poking your needle into the wool until the wool roving binds together.

Once her body was finished I felted sections of long red hair onto her head.  I bought this wool from a craft store.  The wool used for doll hair is flatter than wool batting used for the body. You can also buy curly wool and use it for hair.

Add more hair in sections until you have covered the whole head.  I used my hot glue gun to attach an acorn onto her head for a hat.

This pixie is our symbol of kindness.  I decided she needed a heart on her dress to play the part of a heart pixie.

I used a piece of red wool and shaped it into a heart with my felting needle.

I felted both sides of the heart until it was firm then attached it onto her dress.

The last step was to make her a belt. Two long thin pieces of wool were twisted together.

I felted the two colours together and attached the belt to her waist.

My heart pixie was complete!

Here she is nestled in a bowl of pinecones spreading kindness and love on the Nature Table.