Notions: Weaving for Beginners

weaving with kids

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I’m kind of obsessed with weaving. As a yarn worker, I think of it as a great way to use up yarn in a way that can be artistic, useful or both. I have a lot of yarn I might not necessarily want to knit with, but that would be fun as part of a wall hanging or another woven project.

I think that weaving is a great way to get kids interested in creating with yarn, too. It’s not as difficult as knitting or crochet but will help kids build motor and concentration skills that are necessary both for those crafts and other aspects of life.

Working with yarn also gives you opportunities to talk about color, texture, different materials used in the fiber, textiles as art and more.weaving with kids

I’ve been seeing weaving ideas all over the place lately, so I thought I would capture some here. Weaving is a great addition to the basic sewing I’m already doing with the girl, and I’d like to do it more myself, too.

I have mentioned this one before, but I love the simplicity of the fork weaving project idea from Hands on As We Grow. Stick a fork and some thread in your purse and you can pull this activity out any time you have a little waiting to do.

Another great material for weaving all of us with little kids probably have on hand is straws. Mama Smiles has a great post on how to set up and use a straw weaving loom.

The cool thing about weaving for beginners is that you don’t have to have a loom or any fancy equipment at all to get started. I’ve done weaving on a box before, like is shown in this tutorial from TinkerLab. For little kids you can set the threads up before hand and then let them go with whatever fibers they want to use. We just made a loom from an old checkbook box, and the girl did a little with it and enjoyed it. box weaving kids

Paper plates are another easy material to use for weaving. This post from Krokotak uses a paper plate for the loom and a coffee stirrer as a shuttle to make cute little round woven pieces. TinkerLab has a cute paper plate loom project converted into a doll hammock, which is so sweet and smart.

God’s Eyes are a classic summer camp craft that involves weaving, and here is a great little video (with a boy crafter, if you have one of those in your house) showing just how to do it. Here’s a picture tutorial from Mum in the Mad House, too. Use twigs from your latest nature walk instead of skewers if you like.

Weaving doesn’t have to be done with yarn. I love this ribbon weaving art project from Fun A Day, which uses different colors of ribbon, a canvas and a glue gun.

Bug and Buddy has a great roundup of even more weaving ideas for kids, using plates, cups, boxes, twigs, craft sticks and more. I’m ready to use up some yarn!

Have you ever done any weaving projects, with or without kids? I’d love to hear what you did!


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