Art & Craft Projects: Paper Weaving

Hari OM!

This blog is designed to serve as a library of art and craft ideas for our balavihar children. We hope that you will find this site useful. Please feel free to use any (or all) of the projects you see posted here. We ask, however, that you refrain from publishing (in any form) these templates, instructions, and photographs, unless you receive written permission. These projects are being provided for your own personal use or use in the Balavihar classroom.

All art projects are categorized by 1) material, 2) use, and 3) type. For example a Diya greeting card would be under the labels "Paper" and "Cards," while a Lord Hanumaan puppet would be found under "Paper," "Toys and Puppets" and "Gods and Goddesses." Most materials for these projects can easily be purchased from any local craft store — and some projects involve materials you already have laying around the house.

We would love to hear your suggestions and ideas about any of the information you find on this site. And, if you have any projects that you would like to share with other seviks/sevikas, please send a picture of the finished piece, as well as instructions on how to make the project – so we can post it.

Happy Creating!

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Paper Weaving

Click on image to view enlarged.

Materials

Piece of sturdy paper (cardstock is nice)

Strips of sturdy paper (at least 1/2 inch wide) The length should equal the width of your cardstock

Scissors

Glue Stick

Exacto knife (adult supervision)

Directions

With Exacto knife (or scissors) cut vertical strips into your cardstock. (Make sure that you leave at least 1/2 to 1 inch border at the top, bottom and sides.) Do not worry about exact measurements when you cut - it's nice to have irregular distances between the vertical lines.

Take your strips of paper and begin weaving. First strip travels over, under, over, under, etc. Glue the ends down to the cardstock. Second strip travels under, over, under, over, etc. Glue the ends to the cardstock. Repeat this process until you can weave no more. Experiment with patterned paper for your weaving strips and surface. The variations are endless.

Some helpful links on weaving for kids:

Different loom techniques for kids

Good diagrams on weaving process