Carding wool with small children

[teamsalem]

A friend just gave me some raw wool and I'm hoping to have my children help to clean and card it with me. I didn't realize how expensive a carder would be, but I've read that you can also use a dog brush for this purpose. Has anyone tried this activity with their children? I'm hoping the kids will be interested in it.

[FillingMyQuiver]

We've carded wool w/ dog brushes. My kids have been doing it since they were about 2yrs old, and enjoy it. We just fluff the wool for stuffing, haven't used it for spinning. It's difficult to get a good size rolag with the dog brushes just b/c they're not as large as hand carders, but they work well enough for teaching children I think.

[njsummer01]

We've done this with dog brushes as well with my then 3 year old. It is a lot of fun and he got really into the process. We also used the wool for stuffing and just as a basket of wool to play with on his shelf. He comes up with great uses for it.

Living crafts magazine had a great article on washing raw wool in a past issue that we used as our instructions. And my DS got really into the book Pele's New Suit by Elsa Beskow with this project.