This was something we did this morning that happened in a very “spur of the moment” kind of way. Funny how so many of the most easy, yet inspired ideas come about like this. You see the thing is, we have this pile of art that accumulates by the day. Some of it really deserves to be kept and displayed, but not all of it. And what do I do with the ones I don’t really want to keep? Trash ‘em – no, think about the trees! Finding a way to re-use them seemed like a good idea and I think this project qualifies as “upcycling” (it sounds kind of cooler than recycling, right?).
Anyway, it was one of the easiest things to get going, taking all of 10mins and the bare minimum of materials to prepare. I’m too easily turned off by projects that require huge amounts of time and materials to complete and come attached with long instructions. To me, the less fuss, the better.
I’m sure most of you remember doing this sort of “weaving” activity during art class in your younger days. The idea is that you cut strips of paper and place them perpendicular to each other. Then you lay the strips on top and under each other in a weaving fashion, like you would if you were making a woven basket. I think you get what I mean.
What’s so great about doing this at home with kids – aside from the obvious: minimal prep, practice of fine motor skills, reducing waste, scoring high points for being “fun mom”; as opposed to the wave of mass protest I receive whenever I declare that it’s “Homework Time”… is that you get to introduce (or reinforce) specific vocabulary like over/under; above/below; alternate; perpendicular, etc. It’s a really good idea to keep a conversation going as you move through the activity, talking about what you do as you’re doing it.
As they progress through the activity, they’ll start to realize that as they put things together in a systematic fashion (the whole thing just won’t work if you do a step wrongly) and establish a pattern of regularity, a piece of art finally emerges at the end. I would extend this idea further by pointing out patterns and symmetry and balance that occur in our natural surroundings. This, if I remember correctly, lays the foundation for mathematical thinking in the early years.
Enough rambling, on to the pictures and instructions! Really, this is so easy, you probably don’t need me to explain any of it:
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For as long as I can remember, I’ve had this strange and deep love for fonts, typography and especially hand drawn letterforms. Over the next few days, I am going to absolutely devour the section on Lettering, and I can’t help but think that the chapter entitled “Bezier Curves for Cowards” was written with me in mind.
