Why is handwork important?
True education aims to serve the needs of the whole human being and through engaging in handwork our Head, Heart and Hands are brought into a particular relationship with each other. In these lessons pupils have the opportunity to ‘tangibly grasp’ the world and give expression to their creativity.
Through the Handwork lessons, the children not only experience the nature and processes involved when working with a variety of natural materials, but also benefit from the inherent therapeutic aspect of the rhythmical work. Handwork in its nature brings order to the materials with which we work and bestows a sense of order (calm / wellbeing) upon us.
Alongside the therapeutic element, Handwork challenges children to work from the conceptual through to the material - from an image of what they want to create through to the realisation of that image. A craft like Knitting greatly improves mathematical skills and builds on techniques in measuring, adding and multiplying. It requires precision, dexterity and hand-eye coordination. Knitting and the other crafts taught in our Handwork Lessons also teach values such as perseverance, dedication and patience - all of which are incredibly important in a world where instant gratification has often become an expectation.
Our Handwork teacher Mrs Bouzekria has put together these little videos to help our parents support their children at home during this time but we hope that others can enjoy teaching their children these skills too!
Teaching a slip knot. A skills that is important for casting on when knitting or as the beginning of Finger Knitting.
Casting on
We hope you enjoy!