This activity follows on from the lesson on harvesting willow in Module 5: Natural Crafts and demonstrates how to make a simple willow hoop. Here I give some simple ideas and show a very simple way of making a crown which children really enjoy!
The benefits of using the hands are well researched. Some positive outcomes include the development of muscles and fine motor skills and these are often a pre-curser to writing using a pen. Craft-making also supports young people to enter the 'flow' state which is deeply relaxing and enables learning and integration.
From this, you can extend this idea into making more complex wreathe, for example at Christmas time, adding in berries, or dried satsuma using a little bit of wire.