Magic Threads

A Multi-Arts Project for Primary School Children 

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Duration:

4–6 weeks (flexible)
 

Key Text:

Magic Threads

 

Age Group:

KS2 (Years 4-6)
 

Subjects:
English
History
Art/DT
Geography
PSHE

 

Project Aims

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• To explore family and local history through story and creativity

• To learn about wartime Britain and the impact of “Make Do and Mend”

• To investigate textile traditions from around the world

• To engage with oral histories and community voices

• To inspire imaginative storytelling through a magical journey

 

WEEKLY PROJECT PLAN

 

Week 1: Into the Attic

 

Focus: Creative Writing

 

Activities:

• Read the first part of Benjamin’s story: the attic, the fall, the fabric web

• Use the book to introduce the children to the term heritage and how it is different from history.

• Discuss “What clues are there to Benjamin’s family heritage?”  Write up the words the children use on the board. Encourage them to think about colour / shape / people / objects on the page. 

• Make a class poem: Individually or in groups choose a word from the board and write a line for a poem. 

• Piece the poem together - children can stand up and read lines / rearrange themselves into an order they think the poem should flow. 

 

Creative Task: Arrange the class in a shape that sums up the poem. Perform the poem or write it up. 

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PSHE link: Children could consider what objects matter to our families?

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Week 2: Make Do and Mend

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Focus: History & Design Technology

 

Activities:

• Read the next section of the story - where Benjamin is thrown into WW2. 

• Using the story to introduce the children to “Make Do and Mend” and explore how people reused clothing and fabrics

• Discussion: What can we learn from the idea of “Make Do and Mend” today? How could it help us? 

 

Creative Task:

• Design a wartime-style poster encouraging people to reuse or repair clothes in the current year. 

• Throw a ‘trashion’ show. Invite children to bring in old clothes / raid your lost property and see if they can style old clothes into new fashions. You could use tape and bands to repair things simply and quickly. Focus more on considering the difference of repair. 

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Optional: Store Trashion items for next week. ​

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Week 3: The Tailor's Shop

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Focus: Oral History, Drama & DT

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Activities:

• Read Benjamin’s visit to the tailor's (inspired by Kretts). This was inspired by a memory from a local resident. 

• Discuss what tailors do and why you might have something made for you. 

• Discuss how reminiscences and memories can help us learn about history. 

 

Creative Task:

• Take the trashion show creations and consider how they might be turned into tailoring. 

• Provide children with outlines of a mannequin to design their dream outfit – draw, label fabric, buttons, stitching inspired by the trashion show. Consider the impact of tailoring on our designs. 

• Children share their design ideas and create a TV advert to share the story behind their design. 

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Week 4: Threads Around the World

 

Focus: Geography & Cultural Identity

 

Activities:

• Read the next part of the story - Benjamin floats on a fabric carpet from Tooting around the world

• Map activity: Identify where we find our  fabric sources (India, Pakistan, Thailand, Vietnam, China)

• Invite children to research simple facts about textile traditions (block printing, silk dyeing etc.)

 

Creative Task:

• Group art: Create a “World Fabric Map” with samples, patterns, or drawings born out of research. 

• Poetry writing: “This fabric remembers...” develop sensory poems inspired by the fabric map.

 

Link to identity: Children bring in (or draw) a special item of clothing from their culture or family

 

Week 5: Magic Carpets and Messages

 

Focus: Art, Literacy, and Community

 

Activities:

• Read the part where Benjamin floats above the world, seeing the impact of fast fashion on the world. 

• Write “A message from the fabric” – what does it want to tell Benjamin about fashion  and the future.

• Discuss as a class what we know, think and feel about fashion and textiles now.

 

Creative Task:

• Each child designs a message from the fabric to represent how they might connect to it - this could be by sharing a piece of family heritage, a protest message to consider climate change or a celebration of clothes that are important to them. The class can collage them together to make an agreed shape or word. 

 

Week 6: Back to the Attic / Exhibition Week

 

Focus: Reflection & Sharing

 

Activities:

• Benjamin returns home, surrounded by family memories

• Reflect: What have we discovered about our own stories?

• Write a letter to Benjamin to tell him what you’ve learned

 

Final Exhibition Ideas:

• Display: “The Tailor’s Shop”, “Magic Carpet Wall”, “World Fabric Map”, “Message from the FABRICt”

• Invite parents/carers for a “Story Threads Showcase”

• Share recordings of oral histories if available

• Dress-up Day: children can wear something that represents a part of their story or culture

 

Resources You Might Want:

• Fabric scraps, old clothing, threads, wool

• A world map for string/thread routes

• Wartime posters or real/replica ration books

• Sewing needles, plastic needles, safety scissors

• Clipboards, measuring tapes, coat hangers, cardboard coat outlines