Weaving craft is a great activity for an after school club for children aged 4-plus. It needs a bit of prep but is well worth the effort. We made these at our children’s club and everyone joined in; there was lots of concentration!
Try to have yarn of different colours so the children can make some choices. We used a double knitting weight for the centre of the flower and then changed to aran weight. But chunky or aran weight yarn for the whole flower would be great too. Just don’t use really fine yarn as it will take forever to complete. If you want to you can use ribbon which would look lovely (just make sure that it works and stays put – satin ribbon might be a bit slippery). It’s always a good idea to test out a craft activity and any materials you are hoping to use to double check that the craft is makeable.
All you need for the Weaving Craft
- Paper plate (cut the petals – we have 11. It’s best to have an odd number as it makes the weaving easier. It’s always ‘over, under,with an odd number!’)
- Yarn – we used Double Knitting for the inner circle and Aran for the outer circle. Look at the photo below to see the difference. It’s helpful to have the yarn in small amounts as this helps with the weaving.
- Cellotape to secure the yarn at the back of the plate
- Ribbon (optional)
How to make
- Cut the petals – have a look at the photos to see how far to cut into the plate.
- Thread the loom – use any colour but one that stands out will make a great contrast when you are weaving.
- To start weaving knot the first colour of yarn at the centre and then start weaving alternating ‘over, under’.
- Change colour as often as you like by knotting a new colour to the old colour.
- Use the Aran weight yarn as the circle gets bigger.
Here’s a link to another craft using yarn that is also really fun to make.
I often buy yarn from Wool Warehouse – stylecraft DK comes in many colours and is very good. You can also find yarn in charity shops and ask friends and family for any small amounts they might have that you can use for crafts.
