Paper Weavings

Our 7th graders study Africa in their Social Studies classrooms. In keeping with the cross-curricular idea, we also bring some of that into the Visual Arts classroom. The students create oil pastel images using large circles or other large designs. They color as thick as they possibly can. I have done warm colors on one and cool on another in this lesson, but anything goes. You then have them create a loom by folding one paper in half "hamburger style". They cut slits from the fold to 1/2 inch near the edge of the paper. When they open it up, it's a loom. They cut the other pieces all the way across (hold the paper horizontally and cut going up, making the shorter size strips). They weave in and out, touching up the backs with glue stick to hold it together. They can also mount these onto another sheet of paper to hold it together.