There was some wonderful Garden work on the back wall at the AMS workshop (Chicago 2011) that was created on small pieces of felt. The technique is called needle felting. You need:

• Pieces of felt (any color, any size)
• Felting needles (really sharp) – Rosemary puts them through a wine cork and the children can easily handle the needle safely
• 2-4″ Styrofoam, foam, or cellulose
• Roving (unspun wool) in a variety of colors

Layer the styrofoam, felt piece, and thin layers of roving. Punch (straight up and down) using the needle. This punching technique pushes the roving just enough through the felt to embed it into the fiber. Roving can be layered and punched in and on top of each other. Yarn can also be punched in to create lines and edges. This is a wonderful extension of “punching” work done in the early childhood classroom into the elementary.

Supplies for needle felting can be found at some yarn shops, Hobby Lobby, Michael’s or my favorite supplier of needles and roving (unspun wool) Peace Fleece.  http://www.peacefleece.com/felt_spin.htm