Paper Weaving

Sweet Pea is 4 years old.

From: I found this quick little activity from lilla a (site is in Swedish) via pinterest.

Material:

• 3 or 4 sheets of colorful paper.
• Tape.
• Scissors.

Procedure:

• Cut a  1 inch strips all the way across one sheet of paper, but leave about 1 inch uncut at the top.

•  Cut the other sheets of paper into 1 inch strips.

• Show your tot how to weave one strip over and under through the cuts on the original paper.
• Repeat with a different colored strip.

• Continue until there is no room left for new strips to be added to the original paper.
• Tape the other 3 edges so that half the tape is along the edge and 1/2 the tape is on the table.

•  Peel the woven page off of the table and fold the excess tape on all 4 edges over onto the back so none of the strips will slip out of the weaving.

Observations:   Sweet Pea worked very hard at this and was totally engaged.  I pointed out that she could create a pattern of strips and she really enjoyed creating an A-B-C pattern of strips to weave into the paper.

This weaving activity was a perfect level of challenge for Sweet Pea.  I helped her quite a bit at first, but she was able to work completely independently by the end.  It required a lot of concentration and fine motor control, which was great for her, but I think it might be too difficult for younger tots.

This activity was very easy to set up and Sweet Pea completed the entire page in one sitting.   She spent 20-30 minutes on it and I see us doing this again.  I think it could easily be expanded into a Thanksgiving (or other holiday) placemat craft.

I highly recommend this activity for preschoolers (and up) with good fine motor control.

Notes from the Trenches:   As she was weaving the edges strips kept moving under the last cut on the taped down sheet.  Next time I would cut off about 1 inch from each side of the original (taped down) sheet so it is more of a rectangle so the edges of the strips would have more length and wouldn’t slip under so easily.

Rating: 4 Stars * (Fun, Easy, Independent, Frugal)