Fine MotorToddlersKindergartners8 Comments
Weaving with the kids has always been on my wish list. But I never really pushed it with the boys, because I kind of thought of it as a girl thing.
I know, I shouldn’t be stereotypical like that. I have tried it in the past. When we did our ribbons in a bottle activity, it started with the kids weaving ribbons in a basket like I’ve seen on Adventures at Home. But it didn’t turn out that way, so I didn’t push it. And I haven’t really come back to it since.
The boys and were sitting on the porch one morning during a nice rainfall. Henry thought he’d like to hear the thunder better, so we went outside to listen. The boys were truly enjoying sitting on the porch together. George had even brought some books out to do some quiet reading himself.
Henry and I sat on my wicker bench and Henry noticed the weave of the bench and asked how it was made.
A question I hear a lot lately from my 5 year old. “How did they make this?”
I explained the weave and how it was like a pattern. Over and under, over and under. And realized this was the perfect time to introduce weaving to the kids.
I quickly grabbed my tub of ribbons (along with a scissors, my camera because I’m a blogger, baby monitor since Louis was napping, and my daily Diet Dew) and headed back out to the porch. We have a very large baby gate to go across our front porch steps that worked perfectly for this. If this isn’t something you have, try your indoor baby gate, or porch railings, a fence, stair railings, or even just a clothes basket!
Henry was excited!
I showed him how the weaving worked. In and out, in and out. And he took off!
George joined in too, he seemed to understand the weave, but didn’t keep at it all the way across the gate. Playing with the ribbon was much more enticing for him.
In fact, both the boys thought it was great to just unroll and roll the ribbon back up on its spool! Hey – whatever they like to do!
Someday we’ll expand on weaving and maybe actually create something with a weaving pattern. But this time, it was just about the weaving and trying it out and having a good time with it. Henry really thought the baby gate was really pretty though!
Of course, this is a pretty big gate, but there is still a lot of fine motor skills involved in weaving. Click here for 30 materials and activities to strengthen fine motor skills.
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Julia Deering says
Lovely stuff! It’s so wonderful when they discover something and lead the activity, eh. I’ve still got my laundry basket woven with some of those ribbons by the way – err… two years on! Julia x (Adventures at Home)
Jamie Reimer says
Love the laundry basket Julia! I bet its so fun to keep adding to it!