A few days ago I came across the Great Sense Pompom Challenge on Twitter. If you’re not familiar with Sense, they are a national charity that supports and campaigns for children and adults who are deafblind. The aim of the pompom challenge is to help raise awareness and support for their work. And what are Sense going to do with all these pompoms? Weave them into a big tapestry that will travel the country to raise awareness about sight and hearing loss.
My Sense pompoms
I made quite a few wool pompoms. Until I watched the Sense video I didn’t realise it was possible to make them without a cardboard loop. It turns out you can make them by winding wool round your hand (video on their website). So all the times I’ve made pompoms and sat cursing to myself that there must be easier way…it turns out there was.
After making a few wool pompoms I started thinking about how I could make them more ‘sensory’. So I combined different weights and textures of wool.
I added knotted string to the pompom below to create coarse knobbles amongst softer wool. It’s quite fun to play with when you have your eyes closed because not all the pieces of string are knotted so you have to find the ones that are.

I tried to get a bit creative with materials and discovered I really like the feel of bubble wrap so I made a few out of that.


And a couple from carrier bags because they have a nice crunchy feeling.

The deadline is 2nd December so you have a few days to whip up some pompoms of your own. More details can be found on the Sense website.
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