Oh the Wonders of Weaving

Back in the Mesezoic Era when I was in grade school, my teacher would give us some construction paper to weave.

I loved weaving and I dare say so did everybody else in my class. We’d hunker down and focus on our weaving. (I think our teacher liked that activity because it kept us busy, quiet, and in our seats!)

Weaving is an activity that your grandkids would love doing with you –especially when you try some of these innovative ideas.

There are two things that you can change to really jazz up your weaving experience. First, use different paper.

In your previous weaving experiences, you probably used construction paper. That is fine and dandy — because that was the only choice available back then. But now! Oh lawsie Jane! Construction paper be gone!

There’s all sorts of colored copy paper and card stock. Neon colors really appeal to kids.

Then, there’s scrapbooking paper. Oh the colors and patterns! If you and your grandkids can’t find something that you like, you’re either blind or there’s something wrong with you!

The second thing that you can change is to STOP cutting in straight  lines. That is so last century. I’ll go into that in a few moments.

So. Grab your grandkids. Grab your paper. Grab your scissors. And do grab a ruler. For this first weaving example, you will do straight lines — but not the normal straight lines.

For this example I did use construction paper — black and white colored. That’s only because I didn’t have any other black paper and I wanted this weaving example to be black and white and I was too lazy to go to the store to get some black card stock. (Is that a long run-on sentence, or what?!?)

Fold your black paper in half bringing the short ends together. Using your trusty ruler and pencil, draw diagonal lines. Then starting on the folded edge, cut along the lines. Stop about one inch from the edge.

Open it up and press out the fold so the paper will lay flat. Cut strips of white paper about an inch wide. Weave the white strips over and under every other strip.

This is what your weaving will look like when you are finished. It’s a rather psychedelic chevron pattern!

This next example demonstrates two different concepts to try. First, use paper that are various shades of one color. I selected orange because orange is one of my favorite colors.

Another variation from the rather humdrum weaving we did years ago is to cut your weaving strips various widths. Make skinny, skinny weaving strips. Cut some that are an inch wide. Using all sorts of sizes creates an interesting weaving pattern. Like this.

This next example shows even two more variations you can do in your weaving. First, use coordinating pages of scrabbook paper. There are so many to choose from!

Now, cut curvy lines. You can get a really interesting weaving pattern when you have curvy lines. Can you see them among the designs of the scrapbook paper?

Now, I ask you, what have you done in the past with your paper weaving once you finished it? You probably took it home and your mom put it on the fridge for a few days and then probably threw it away.

Or maybe you covered it with clear contact paper and used it for a placemat.

That’s good. But, you can do more!

You can frame it and hang on your wall as an art piece. You can cut out various shapes like hearts or stars or flowers. Your grandkids could hang them from their ceiling or curtain rod. Or tape them to a bathroom mirror or in their school locker. Or, use them as a doily for one of their knick knacks. (You might have to explain to them what a doily is!)

I decided to use the pretty pink weaving and create a heart out of it. First, I put packing tape on the back and front of my weaving. The tape held it together so it wouldn’t come apart while I cut it into a heart.

I cut a heart out of a scrap of white paper. I used that as my guide to cut out a heart from the woven paper.

I can envision putting a little pink candle in a small votive cup and placing it on top of this heart. That would look really pretty on a bookshelf.

You can also make a bookmark out of your woven paper. (My oldest grandson loves the color green so I’m going to send this bookmark to him along with the next book in the Magic Tree House series. Shhh! Don’t tell him.)

Now. I want you to look at that bookmark. Maybe even click on the picture to see a bigger version so you can look at it really close. Look really, really hard at it. Can you see a variation in the weaving pattern?

On this example, instead of weaving over and under single strips of paper, I went over and under 2. So instead of going over one and under one strip, try a different pattern. Go over or under 2-3 strips at a time to see what type of a weaving pattern you get. This is a fun variation to do — especially since it weaves up faster.

Weaving is a great activity to do with grandkids. It Improves their critical thinking skills. Weaving helps them master their small motor skills. Their creativity is challenged when they come up with different color schemes, sizes and shapes of weaving strips, and of the type of lines they cut (wavy, straight, diagonal).

Quite a few years ago, I shared an idea for a woven heart basket for Valentine’s Day. That’s a fun weaving activity, too.