Today we read “Where Did My Clothes Come From?” by Chris Butterworth with illustrations by Lucia Gaggiotti. It is a book we checked out from the library and it was super informative. We enjoyed the pictures very much and talked about our favorite clothes. This is the type of book that is a great jumping off point to explore more after reading. This time we found ourselves inspecting a pair of jeans and googling videos about shearing animals.
On YouTube we found many videos of people shearing sheep, goats, alpacas and angora rabbits for their fur. This also led to watching other goat videos- like goats that climb trees and how baby goats have to be awesome climbers at one week old. Lastly we ended up watching all of Block Shop’s process videos of their block carving, dyeing and printing by master artisans for their scarves made in Bagru, India (which can be found on their Instagram account).
Next time we read this book we may want to learn more about silk worms or making rubber or traditional clothing worn in other cultures. I love how this organic kind of learning unfolds for us. I always find that my curiosity is piqued just as much as Clover’s. I appreciate our opportunities to take time and to have the resources to find out about anything we can think of.
Another excellent (and relevant) read is “Pelle’s New Suit” by Elsa Beskow. We have checked it out many times and I remember grabbing all of my wool sweaters down out of the closet to feel the fabric one time after reading. It was a great first story about where clothes come from and how garments used to be made more or less by hand. It has also been on the book shelves of every early childhood program that I have worked in which I think is a sign that is a good book for children.
