Teaching Kids to Weave
Over the past four months or so I've been teaching kids to weave at my local homeschooling centre. I'm by no means an expert weaver, but I do have some experience with a floor loom and various smaller looms. I started to get very into weaving about 7-8 years ago and I really love it, but I've barely touched my own loom since my son was born five years ago. One of the best parts of teaching the kids is that it's motivated me to get back into weaving and I'm looking forward to returning to some of my own projects that I'd put on hold.
The kids that I've been teaching range in age from about 4-8 years old. We started out with a simple project weaving placemats out of wool felt. I really enjoyed seeing which colour combinations the kids chose.
The next week was right around Valentine's day so we moved on to some paper weaving and made some traditional Scandinavian heart baskets and woven heart cards.
Since then I've been guiding the kids (and some of their parents!) through individual projects using various small looms. We have belt weaving on my Inklette loom (shown above), some tapestry weaving on these cute little looms I got from Pretty Little Yarns, and lots and lots of pin loom squares. I made a very simple little buttoned purse by sewing two pin loom squares together and this has been the most popular project so far. Now a couple of the other parents are helping the kids make their own wooden pin looms in various sizes which is so great! It's fun to see how one project inspires another at the centre.
The whole reason I was inspired to teach weaving in the first place is because last year I found a 4-shaft table loom sitting way up on a high shelf at the centre that hasn't been used in years. I've slowly been working my way up to figuring out a project to make using the table loom, and at the suggestion of one of the other mothers this week we are getting it warped to make drawstring bread bags. I still have a few steps to do to complete the warping process and hopefully we can start weaving next week. Wish me luck!
3 Responses
Lucie
Good luck. I think this is such a good idea. The children enjoy making things and it will last them a lifetime.
Lucie
Good luck. I think this is a very good idea.
Anna Dorner
Reading your blog brings me back to those fun years when I was doing various weaving activities with “my children” at school. Wonderful initiative Elizabeth!
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+About Sweet Paprika
Sweet Paprika Designs offers high-quality materials for knitters and crocheters, with a focus on locally-sourced and sustainable products. Co-owners (and sisters) Debbie and Elizabeth create their own hand-dyed yarns, knitting kits and patterns in their Montreal dye studio and organize knitting and dyeing events in the community.
Elizabeth Sullivan
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