Crafts
Fine Motor
Math & 123sKindergartnersPreschoolers27 Comments
Oh dinner time. The kids are hungry, tired, and definitely not at their best. And facing facts, neither am I. I have given up on the hope that my little ones will play cooperatively and kindly while I prepare dinner and instead I plan a quick craft or activity.
Nothing too fancy, definitely nothing messy, and most often a quiet bin from our stash.
I have found that giving my little ones a tiny bit of structure and an engaging quick craft or activity allows for me to get dinner ready in peace. Not to mention it is far better for them as well. Crying and fighting cannot be a beneficial way to work up an appetite!
This little gem is perfect for the dinner time witching hour. It was also be fabulous to bring along to a restaurant.
Fork weaving!
It is a classic, or at least it is for me. I use to do this when I was a little one.
My husband asked me what the ‘point’ of it was … ‘What do you do with them when they are done?’
(Ironically, he asked this as our little ones were quietly engaged in this activity while we were prepping dinner … I looked at the little ones, and then at the potato in my hand, and simply smiled.)
The point, of course, is for a quiet activity to keep little ones busy.
BUT there is far more going on than just that.
Fork weaving is fantastic for developing fine motor skills. It takes tiny hand movements and concentration to get that thin string to weave in and out of the fork tines.
(Truthful moment: I just googled what the technical term is for ‘fork fingers’. It’s tines.)
Weaving is a great way to help little ones learn about patterning and greater math concepts as well. Counting, patterning, increased focus, and fine motor skill development all with a fork and some string.
For this quick craft all you need is a fork or two and some string. We used embroidery thread (affiliate link) so we could get pretty colours.
The kids spent a lot of time weaving back and forth, tying off their thread and tying on a new colour. It was actually rather surprising to me how engaged they became with it. Just further proof to me that they do truly need that quiet structured activity during that part of the day.
In fact, I think I could get quite engaged with an activity like this during that part of the day. Now to just find someone to make dinner for my family …
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Prostate cancer treatment in India says
Thank you for sharing your great activities.
Donna says
When I was a kid, we did almost the same thing. The only thing different we did was to use an extra length of thread draped between the middle tines. Then we would do our weaving all with the same yarn or embroidery floss (variegated color works nice!) pushing the weave down to make the weave very tight. Once we got the forked filled with the weaving, we would tie up the weave with the extra length of weave, not finishing the knot completely. Then we would push the weave off of the fork. Finish the knot around the weave very tightly and you are left with a pom-pom. We used the pom-poms to make a marionette puppet by stringing them together for legs, arms and necks of our creatures and then styrofoam for the heads and bodies. Just an idea to use this to create something from all of this hard work.
Donna says
When I was a kid, we would do almost the same thing. The only thing different that we did was to put a length of thread between the middle tines, use all one yarn or embroidery floss. Once we had filled the entire fork, pushing the thread down to get it tight, we would tie the extra length of thread around the weaved thread very tightly. Then we would push the thread off of the fork and we would have a pom-pom.
Karen says
We did this once with our Brownies at a Seniors Home, used yarn, and made them into fork flowers.. You thread an 8-10 inch long piece of yarn through the middle tines, and then when you are done your weaving, you tie it off and have a flower. The seniors enjoyed the tactile experience, (they held the forks ) and it gave the girls a way to spend time with the seniors. Thanks for the reminder about this craft and the suggestion to use embroidery thread! I enjoy your blog.
a;ngela says
how do you make the flower?
Helen @ Witty Hoots says
Colourful and inventive – I think this is a great idea! Thank you for joining in with #WeLoveWeekends last week. Your post has been featured via Witty Hoots on this week’s We Love Weekends! Thank you again for sharing and hope to see you joining in again soon!
otilia says
oh that is very cute! my 6 year old would love it! thank you for linking with the #pinitparty
Melissa French, The More With Less Mom says
This is a fabulous idea! This is just the kind of thing my grammy would have come up with to keep us distracted. Thanks for posting. Hello from Frugal Family Linky.
Mel @ Adventures of Mel says
This is a brilliant idea! I wish I’d known about this when my youngest was smaller. He would probably still love it, now that I think about it. Such a fun activity. I had to giggle when you said “dinner time witching hour.” So true! Thank you for sharing at Inspire Me Wednesday. Featuring you in this week’s issue.
Jina says
I love this idea, but did I miss the instructions on how to start and do the fork weaving?
Thanks.
p.s. Love your blog!
Jamie Reimer says
Hey Jina – the instructions are very minimal — just tie the string onto one of the fork tines – and then weave between back and forth, going around the end of the fork and doing the opposite on the way back. And then tie it off and start a new color, doing the same thing.
Lindsey Kettle says
Anything to keep the kids quiet is great in my book! A lovely idea. Thanks for sharing with we love weekends.x
Sequins & Sand says
Great little activity for the little ones. I agree that the end result is – Quiet Time! They make pretty decorative pieces too
Erin says
Cool craft! Thanks for linking up to Good Tips Tuesday. You will be featured next week. :)
Keri says
Quiet activities are great for the witching hour! And if they need to be *for* something, they would make a cute centerpiece on the table for a few days.