Paper Weaving

Todays craft is an oldie but a goodie! I loved making these paper weavings when I was in elementary school and I remember thinking they were just the coolest thing ever! 

My 5 year old did most of this whole craft himself, though he did say it was a "tricky" one! Ha! I gotta throw in those tricky ones every once and awhile! And my 4 year old was able to do a lot of it with me helping him. This Paper Weaving Craft is an awesome fine motor skill and hand
 coordination activity for toddlers. I loved how they turned out and the boys were super proud of what they created which makes it all worth it!

SUPPLIES NEEDED:
- Construction paper 
- Pencil
- Scissors
- Ruler
- Glue 

Have I ever mentioned how much I LOVE LOVE LOOOVE crafts that use supplies I already have on hand?! Well I do! OK, lets get on with the directions :)

STEP 1: Fold a piece of construction paper in half width wise.

STEP 2: Have the kids draw horizontal pencil lines starting at the folded edge going towards the opposite end. - To make this easier for younger ones, you can mark dots on each side of the paper and then have them draw a line connecting the dots.

STEP 3: Have the kids cut along the penciled lines, starting at the folded edge and stopping an inch away from the papers edge.

STEP 4: Unfold the paper. This is called the loom.

STEP 5: Have your kids pick a few different colored construction paper and have them cut out 1 inch strips. I helped my boys with the cutting while they sorted their strips by color. I don't know about your kids but mine love sorting stuff! In fact, so do I... that must be where they get it from!

STEP 6: Now comes the fun part EEEK!! Have your kids start threading the strips of construction paper over, under,over, under the strips of the loom. (Show them that one strip starts over the edge, the next strip starts under the edge, and so on.)

 STEP 7: When the loom is filled, glue down the edges of the strips on both sides of the paper to keep everything in place.

A FUN Variation: Cut a shape out of the middle of a different colored construction paper. (Fold paper in half; cut out the shape.) Glue on top of the woven paper, with weaving showing through the center cutout.

These were so fun to make and I'm sure we'll be making more soon! I hope your little ones love it as much as mine did!