Mittens for Koalas

I was browsing Facebook today and saw a Washington Post story about Koalas that have been injured in bush fires in Australia.

The images were heart wrenching.

I showed the story to Sean, and asked if he thought it would be a good idea to help. It's pretty easy, all we need to do is make some little mittens for them. I explained that it is their paws that are burned badly, and they have to keep healing salve on them, and keep them covered with cotton mittens. These are tree-dwelling, tree-hugging animals, so having healthy paws is essential to their lives.
He wanted help, so I suggested that I could put a call out to our little homeschool group that meets at our house on Thursdays for free-play time.

I emailed the group to see if any of those moms might have a sewing machine, because mine isn't in working order, and explained the idea. I asked the moms to talk to their children to be sure they would want to participate. (None of them use Montessori, but they are pretty Montessori inclined and just don't realize it ;-))

I got a quick response from a mom who does have a sewing machine, and can bring it to our next play day. I'm looking around for old T-shirts and old sheets, which the IFAW site says are perfect for this project. The material must be 100 precent cotton. I can only imagine the pain the poor animals are experiencing.

The mittens will be distributed by IFAW to wildlife caregivers, and vets who treat the burned Koalas.

I've been looking for a service project that would resonate with Sean, and this seems to be the one. I think I will print out color photos from the story to have on display as they work, so they are focused on why their work is so important.

My hope is that this will be a child-led project with minimal adult interference. They are all old enough to use scissors, and a sewing machine.

I'll post more on this subject next week, after we meet on Thursday. In the meantime, if you have a group, or are part of a Montessori school setting, we hope you will consider this as a project. If you cannot commit to the sewing, raising money to donate would be a good idea as well.