http://www.marthastewart.com/266261/felt-balls
I didn't put any designs as I was using the white sheep wool.
Then I diyd the balls with turmeric:
http://craftingagreenworld.com/2012/05/09/how-to-make-natural-fabric-dye/
After they finished, I placed the balls in lingerie mesh bags and dried them in the dryer. When they came out, I tightened them up at home with some needle felting.
These were the star balls.
At the point in the puppet play (On the last day I gave the play, as I gave the play Monday through Friday on Michaelmas week), when the stars sent fireballs from the sky, I gently tossed into each child's lap, a star ball.
I also rewrote the Michaelmas Play for Toddlers a little:
Michaelmas Story for Toddlers
Once upon a time, there was a little boy who lived with his parents in a cottage in the woods. They were a happy family, planting and cooking and cleaning and mending and making. They did all the things needed every day to make their home a happy one.
One day, though, the parents said to each other, “I don’t feel so well. My tummy aches. I have a fever.” We are too ill to work. We must lie in our beds.” The little boy tried so hard to take good care of them. “Don’t worry dear parents, I will give you warm broth to drink. I will do all the planting and the cooking and the making and the mending.” He gathered wood from the forest each day and built a warm fire in their room. But the autumn winds blew so hard, the tree branches swayed in the wind, the leaves fell in big heaps upon the ground. When the boy returned home with his last load of wood he found the fire had gone out. “Oh we are so cold in our bed We are shivering.” The boy took a warm blanket and tucked them in snugly. “I will search for the matches. I brought plenty of wood.” He looked high and he looked low. He looked here and he looked there. But no matches did he find. Father sun was slowly going to sleep, down, down down he went until he was gone.
“I must go in search of fire.” “ Into the cold dark night, I must go, to make a fire warm and bright for my parents.” So he put on his coat and his hat and his gloves and boots and out he went. He walked into the forest and went deeper and deeper and deeper. He came to a clearing where there were no trees and looked up at the sky. There in the heavens he saw the stars shining bright.
“Star light, star bright, first stars I see tonight, I wish I may, I wish I might have some of your fiery light.” And the stars in the sky heard him and sent their star fireballs down to the earth.
But someone else was also in the wood and heard and saw all. She was a dragon and was not happy about the stars sending fire to the boy. “ I am the keeper of fire and light and the stars shall not give this to you. “ And the dragon planted herself firmly in front of the glowing fire. “Oh whatever shall I do,” said the boy. “I cannot fight this dragon. I am so small and weak.”
But the stars heard and saw and sent down from the heavens a shining yellow beam of light. And upon this light rode a horse with a shining knight. “Micha-el, Micha-el, Be with us, Be with us, Give us courage, give us strength, to do what is right and good.”
The knight stood before the boy and smiled. Then he turned to the dragon and said,” You may move away from the fire.” “I shall not,” said the Dragon. The knight again faced the dragon firmly and said, “You may move away from the fire.” The dragon said, “No!” The Knight climbed down from the horse and walked up closely to the dragon and said, “You may move or I shall help you move.” And the dragon hung her head and said, “Ok.” Then she slunk off back to her cave. The knight took a branch from the ground and plunged it into the flames. When he took it out, it was a burning golden sword. “Here hold this and ride with me, I shall take you back to the cottage.” The knight rode swiftly through the dense wood, the boy held tightly to the flaming sword and soon reached the cottage. “Thank you, dear knight. But what is your name?” “I am called Mich-a-el,”said the knight and he turned his horse and galloped back up to the stars. “Micha-el, Micha-el, Be with us , Be with us. Give us courage, give us strength, to do good on earth.” The boy started a great fire in the hearth , his parents became well and the fire in the hearth never went out again.
Happy Michaelmas.
