WEAVING PAPER PLATES

For a fun and fairly easy project that requires few supplies, try weaving paper plates. My students loved it. Third grade was the youngest that worked for me because of larger group sizes, but someone as young as five would be able to do this project with more focused assistance.

SUPPLIES: paper plates, various colors of yarn, scissors, markers or crayons.

-Cut the edges of a paper plate into points so the plate looks like a flower or a sun.
-Poke a hole in the middle of the plate.
-Tie individual strands of yarn between each petal (or every other petal). Tie each strand so the knot is on the back of the plate. It will look messy on the back, but that is not important. You may trim the tails of the knots, but don't make them too short or the yarn will pop off while weaving.

-Take a piece of yarn about 10 inches long and tie its tail to one of the cross yarns on the back  of the plate. 
-Pull the yarn through to the front and get ready to weave.
-Begin weaving in the center of the plate by going over, under, over, under, and so on.
-Stuff and tuck the tail of the first piece of yarn under itself. No need to tie knots, the yarn is fuzzy and will cling to itself when tucked in well.
-Begin with a new color of yarn by stuffing and tucking it under the previous color, then weave as before.

-Weave as far as you would like, and then color the rest of the plate with markers or any other colorful medium of your choice.

-For more explicit visual instructions you can search the internet with the words "weaving paper plates", and you will find many sites with various instructions for this project.
-Display for all to see!