How to build your own kit

 If you would like to create an UNWIND Kit in your own school, library, community center, or anywhere else you think they could be useful, I am providing the steps below.  UNWIND is not just about grounding and mindfulness, but also about literally unwinding the project when you are done, and putting it back in the kit for another person to use.  The Social Worker at one school suggested something I hadn't thought of, which was to send out the QR code to have children (and adults) learn the steps of crochet at home, then be able to use the kits when needed, or desired, at school with the booklet as a support and not for initial instructional purposes.  This will keep the project as it is meant to be: a way to UNWIND because there is previous knowledge of how to use the tool, while using it on campus.  It also creates other people in a child's life who are familiar with the steps (maybe a parent, sibling, or caregiver at home, or even their own teachers).  The idea is that if a child wants to keep their project they either bring personal yarn from home, or that you would work with a PTA group to run a yarn drive each school year, or another entity for donations. 

Each Kit Requires: Pouch to hold contents, 1 hook, 1 ball of yarn, a booklet for the project, if desired you can place several kits and some extra yarn, in a bin.  I chose one that was 16x20x8

Pouch 

Hook a size 4.5 or 5 is ideal 

Small Ball of Yarn 

(I used this yarn for my daycamp and it was more than enough for any of the projects you will see on this page, but I also used a yarn ball winder to turn large skeins into manageable sized yarnballs) 

Laminated booklet 

Thermal Paper (buy or borrow a small laminator)

1" Book Rings 

And a DRILL to drill through the booklets 

with the following Pages

"Unwind" Page 

"What's in this Kit?" 



Emotions Check-in Page (you can create your own, I used free printable from Simple Practice and printed 2/page for the right size for the booklet)


*Note: You may need to play with the sizes and positioning of each of these booklet items.  I did a 2-sided document layout and had to work to line things up front to back (which is how the first four pages are currently formatted) then I had to measure to remove margins on the sides and top/bottom to create a booklet that could be laminated into 5.5x7 to fit into the pouch. 

**I do not receive any benefit for affiliate links.  I am only sharing the products we used for this project. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

About this Project

This Project is the workings of a Girl Scout Gold Award.  For those unaware of what a Gold Award is, it is an 80-100 Individual Girl Scout Project that focuses on a community issue and works to solve its root cause. The Girl Scout is asked to find an Advisor, a set of team members, and to lead the project and the team.  She is also asked to create a project that is sustainable for a number of years into the future.  My project's community issue focuses on School-Induced Anxieties and how to stay mindful, present, and grounded, when presented with these stresses.  For most of my life, until the age of 15/Sophomore year in high school, I was schooled at home, In the Fall of 2021, I made a decision to move to Public School in order to graduate with the friends I'd made through the Music Department of my high school through my involvement in Marching and Symphonic Band classes.  Upon entry into the Public School System, I began to pretty immediately realize the stre...
Read more

About Me

My name is Alani Wiist.   I am a recent graduate of Murray High School in Utah where I played the trumpet for 3 years in the Murray High School Marching Band, and was the Drum Major my Senior Year of High School.  I also played the trumpet in my school's Symphonic, Philharmonic, and Jazz Bands during High School.  I have taken my love for Marching and Music with me to the University of Utah, where I now march for the Pride of Utah: The Marching Utes!  I am a Girl Scout of 13 years.  I always loved financial and cooking badges. My favorite memories with my Troop were our summer daycamps.  I loved visiting the Farmer's Market, Water/Outdoor Play Days, and visiting a local Goat Farm.  I've taken my love of finance to the U with me, and am majoring in both Business and Music.  I began Girl Scouts as a Kindergarten aged Daisy, at 5 years old, in 2011, and graduated, in 2024, as a thirteen year, and fourth generation Girl Scout.  In 4th grade ...
Read more

Mindfulness Resources

Image
 You'll see the following resource again in the "Make Your Own Kit" page, but here are some suggested ways to stay mindful and present as a practice, while you engage in crochet: Think about what mindfulness means to you Keep your mind focused on the present Let your worries go and focus on the steps There are 4 main movements in crochet, use these movements to. . . Think of 4 positive words/affirmations about  Yourself~Your World~Indoors~Outdoors~Family~Things You Love~ What you aspire to/want to be~Gratitudes~Things you want to let go of~Nature~ You can write a silly or special poem, song, or create a rhyme My Mindfulness Liaison was helpful in steering me towards a great resource for a specific practice in mindfulness which is within the DBT or Dialectal Behavior Therapy model.  I am providing a graphic here for simplicity, but feel free to look into DBT/Dialectical Behavior Therapy and research any number of websites for resources and information.  Credit for thi...
Read more