Soulstainable Sankofa Craft

For Women's Herstory Month, we partnered with the Mingei International Museum to connect, create, and celebrate Womxn’s HERstory and movement-making from past to future!

Checkout our Soultry Hangout on our youtube channel to learn about the meaning behind our Soulstainable Sankofa Craft. You can also watch our FB Live with Mingei Museum.

Watch FB Live with Mingei Museum

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Follow the tutorial below to learn how to make a vibrant Sankofa-inspired bird to connect, create, and celebrate Womxn’s HERstory and movement-making from past to future!

Materials:

• 1 Cardboard piece measuring 8x10 inches

• Yarn measuring 3 feet

• 2 Wooden Sticks

• 1 Piece of colored construction paper

• 1 Piece of colored felt material

• Craft glue

• Scissors

• Pen or pencil

This soulstainable craft is made from cardboard, colorful yarn, colored paper, felt, and sticks. If you don't have all of these items, feel free to use any items you can find around your home.

Video Tutorial

View Step-by-Step Guide Here

Sankofa Craft-lesson-plan

.pdf

Download PDF • 1.41MB

Directions:

1. Start by cutting out the bird pieces/elements (body, wing, beak and eye)

2. Trace the body of the bird onto the cardboard and felt

3. Cut out body of the bird from the cardboard and felt material

4. Then cut small slits, about one centimeter apart, all along the outer edge/outline of the bird’s body

5. Thread the yarn through the slits around the bird

   1. Secure the yarn at the start of the tail, using the first slit

   2. Then continue to wrap the yarn up and down across the body of the bird

6. Once you’ve wrapped the whole bird and reached the other side, tie off or glue the loose end so your yarn does not unravel

7. Glue two sticks onto the back of the bird to make two legs

8. Take the felt cut out of the body and glue it to the back of the cardboard Sankofa body.

9. Add the wing:

   1. Draw around the wing template onto the colored paper or felt

   2. Cut out wing

   3. Decorate the wing

      1. You can use anything you can find – markers, stickers, ribbon, buttons - use your imagination!

   4. Glue the wing to the body

10. Repeat step 9a-d for the beak

11. Glue paper eye to the body

12. No matter which materials you chose to complete your Sankofa bird, we hope you enjoyed making this simple but fun craft.

We'd love to see your Soulstainable Sankofa! Make sure to tag us @SoultrySisters in your craft photos and videos.

xoxo,

Alyssa + Toni