Will your party hat be funny or fantastic?
2
Joining paper and fabric
In the unit the children are asked to use stapling and using a glue stick as ways of joining paper. You can extend the range of joining techniques used by the your class by introducing the following techniques.
1. Using paper fasteners
You will need to make sure that the children can use a hole-punch safely. The holes in the upper piece need to be directly above the holes in the lower piece. The easiest way to ensure this is to punch the holes into both pieces at the same time. The pieces are 
joined together by inserting a paper fastener through each pair of holes and opening out. In addition to giving a strong mechanical join the fasteners also provide decoration - a row of shining buttons, ideal for crowns, coronets and tiaras.
2. Using thread
If children in your class want to use fabric instead of paper then stapling or gluing isn't really a good method of joining. The difficulty with using thread is that needles are sharp (and hence hazardous) and difficult to thread. The way to overcome these problems is to use a flexible plastic bodkin, which has a large eye. It is not so sharp as a needle and the large eye makes it easy to thread with thick yarns such as knitting wool. A simple tacking stitch is the easiest to use. It is important that the fabric used is open weave so that it is not difficult to push the open weave bodkin through the two pieces of fabric to be joined.