Little Middle

Little Middle will take place from Monday, June 19 through Friday, June 23 this year.

Registration for Little Middle opens Tuesday, April 4 at 9 a.m. Eastern Time.

American Indian Arts – Instructor Billy Whitefox – Learn to make fun Indian art like jewelry, leather cuffs, and more. Spend time in nature and learn about American Indian art and culture.

Basketry: A Tisket, a Tasket, Let’s All Make a Basket – Instructor Penny Morgan – Discover how to weave three simple yet practical baskets: a pencil holder, a small flat basket, and a small basket with a handle. Amaze your friends and family with your wonderful baskets.

Beads: Beaded Bugs and Flowers – Instructor Lynn Ann Miller – Learn to make beautiful, 3-D flowers and bugs with wire and colorful glass beads. Start by making a fly, then try creating daisies, geckos, beetles, spiders, or any other plants and critters you can imagine!

Book and Paper Art – Instructor Paige Davis – Let’s get crafty with paper! We’ll create papier-mâché animals, colorful origami cranes, and a collage of fantastical landscapes to put in your very own book that you will create.

Clay: Beginning Clay – Instructor Patricia Montoya Donohue – Discover the endless possibilities of hand-building! Learn how to shape and mold clay into beautiful bowls, animals, ornaments, and even a wind chime.

Felting: Needle-felt Gnome, Fairies, and More – Instructor Dedra Davis – Use colorful wool roving and felting needles to create miniature, nature-inspired creations such as gnomes, fairies, forest animals, mushrooms, and more! Leave with the knowledge to make your own small, needle-felted sculptures.

Gourd Art: Magical Gourd House – Instructor Linda Vanderlaan – Did you know that you can make a nightlight from a gourd? Learn how to transform a gourd into your own glowing hobbit or fairy house to light up your room at night!

Knitting: Knitting Ninjas – Instructor Emolyn Liden – Explore the wondrous world of fiber art. Learn to knit with your hands and on knitting needles to create chains, necklaces, headbands, and maybe a flower. Use all kinds of yarn, fiber, buttons, and more to finish your projects.

Magic: Fun with Magic – Instructor Tom Payne – Entertain and amaze others with close-up magic using cards, coins, rope, rubber bands, and other common objects. Learn the secrets to making things seemingly vanish and reappear.

Music: Play the Ukulele – Instructor Marvin Daniels – Let’s all sing and play together on the ukulele. Learn tuning, simple strumming patterns, and enough chords to play songs.

Mosaics: Marvelous Mosaics – Instructor Jeannette Brossart – Let’s play with color and shapes. Create a paper mosaic, a necklace and pendant, or even a suncatcher—the possibilities are endless!

Puppetry: The Magic of Puppets – Instructor Claire Ritzler – Become a puppeteer as you make your own moving mouth-hand puppet. Create a character, develop a story, and participate in a performance.

Artist Books: Play with Colors and Paper – Instructor Sigrid Hice – Design colorful paste papers for book covers by combing and twisting a variety of gadgets across paper. Learn various paper folds that will become unusual, sculptural books, such as the origami accordion book, the secret room book, and the spiral book. Let your imagination fly across the pages by drawing, collaging, or writing in your very own handmade treasures.

Blacksmithing: Blacksmithing , a.k.a. Happiness – Instructor Julie Clark – Spend a week playing in a coal fire. Use a hammer, tongs, and anvil to smash, bend, and twist metal into functional and artistic items.

Baskets: Painted Paper Baskets – Instructor Nancy Hinds – Play with color as you paint pieces of paper, then cut them into strips to weave baskets. You will make several different sizes in any color you can imagine.

Clay: Beginning Pottery – Instructor Linda Mabry – This week, it’s all about birds! Learn how to make unique birdhouses, birdfeeders, and birdbaths from clay using wheel throwing and hand building techniques. Decorate and glaze your projects to take home and share with the feathered friends in your backyard.

Cooking: Frozen Summer Treats – Instructor Susannah Thompson – Ready, set, freeze! Beat the heat with some tasty summertime treats. Learn to make (and eat!) popsicles, sorbet, ice cream sandwiches, and other summer classics sure to help cool you down.

Dance: Jingle! Hop! Skip! – Instructor Nick Kelischek – Wear bells, bang sticks, wear colorful costumes, and have fun learning Border Morris dance, an ancient dancing style from England. This is one of the famous dances performed yearly at the Folk School Fall Festival.

Enameling: Colorful Copper Enamel – Instructor Kay Patterson – What happens when you combine glass and copper? Make copper shapes by cutting, heating, hammering, and forming. Then, learn ways to apply colorful powdered glass and fire the copper pieces in a hot kiln to create glistening bowls, magnets, jewelry, and even a bookmark.

Jewelry: Become a Jewelry Designer – Instructor Terry Hale – Embark on a jewelry-making adventure! Start with simple wirework and quickly move on to making pendants, earrings, chains, and more using precious metals, beads, gemstones, and crystals. Master the basics, then use what you’ve learned to bring your original ideas and designs to life!

Music: Learn to Play the Ukulele – Instructor Virginia Mattox – There’s nothing quite like making your own music. Ukulele is a fun instrument that’s easy to learn and can go anywhere you want to take it. Learn the basics of strumming and moving between chords as we play and sing a variety of songs.

Painting: Fantasy Landscapes – Instructor Suzy DesLauriers – Learn how to paint beautiful landscapes with watercolor. Create a colorful painting of mountains and skies and add your creative ideas of castles, flying dragons, and imaginary creatures.

Photography: Capture Nature Through the Lens – Instructor Liz Domingue – Enhance your knowledge of the natural world and your photography skills as you explore the flora and wildlife of the Southern Appalachians with a naturalist. Learn basic techniques of nature photography while heightening your observation skills and enjoyment of the natural world.

Woodburning: Drawing with Fire – Instructor Terez Hjetland – Did you know you can draw with fire? Learn the basics of woodburning and use patterns or draw your own designs to create beautiful works of art on wood, paper, and leather.

Woodturning: Fun with Wood – Instructor Steve Cook – Learn how to turn a piece of wood into beautiful artwork using a lathe spinning tool. Create a rolling pin or small baseball bat, yo-yos, spinning tops, and even items for the kitchen. Leave an expert in the basics of woodturning and tool safety.

Woodworking: Log Cabin Bird Feeder – Instructor Dave Kaspar – Build your very own birdhouse! Along the way, learn how to use a bandsaw, a small pin nailer, and how to give wood an old-timey look. Leave with a handmade home for your flying friends!

Please contact our Programs Department for more information around Little Middle.