Paper weaving is an activity I love to do with my kindergarten children and it’s an activity we do quite a bit throughout the year. It’s an activity that I remember learning at school and once you have mastered the basic skills there are some amazing weaving art projects that can be completed as the children get older. One of the main reasons I love weaving is that it ticks a lot of boxes including:
- ruling lines
- cutting skills
- fine motor skills
It’s also an easy activity to modify. For some students I will have the lines already drawn on the paper, for others I will have cut the strips out for them (or at least started each row). For the children who are more capable then I will try to let them do all of this on their own (with assistance of course, but without doing it for them). This can be a whole class or a small group activity depending on the way you want to structure it. It’s a good idea to have a finished project as an example for the students to look at, as they can struggle with the concept without first seeing the idea.
What you need:
- Colored Card Stock (2 pages per student). You can use paper but card stock is easier for little fingers to maneuver. If you do want to use paper, I recommend using card for the main weaving frame and paper for the strips.
- Card stock or Paper for the border (optional). I like to frame the art work but you don’t need to.
- Glue (any kind)
What to do:
- Draw lines on one sheet of the card stock (depending on the ability of the child, this could be a teacher or a student task).
- Have the student cut out the strips of paper. I do prefer to have the students do this even if the cutting isn’t the straightest as cutting skills are a key part of the activity. If they are really struggling this can be done by an adult.
- Take the second piece of card stock (in a different color) and fold it in half
- Cut strips like pictured (starting at the folded side) and leaving a 1 inch gap a the end.
- Unfold the sheet and have the children thread the strips of paper through the sheet of card in a alternating pattern
- Glue down the ends of the strips of paper
- Glue onto another color of card (I like black but it’s up to you!) to make a frame. You may need to trip your weaving fist to make it fit nicely.
- Hang on display!
Here are some of the finished projects my group of children made. I love using smaller versions of these as bookmarks too and they make great Mother’s Day or Father’s Day gifts.