Weaving is one of my favorite fine motor activities for kids. It’s a great way to target visual motor integration, coordination, and grasping skills and the repetitive movement can be so calming and engaging for kids (and adults!). I was playing with my boys in our backyard one day earlier this summer and came up with this easy outdoor weaving loom for them. They used it to create a woven screen that blocked off their “secret hideout” under a large bush!
WHAT YOU’LL NEED: Yarn, two fence posts or tree trunks to act as the frame for your loom, long scraps of fabric or ribbon
WHAT TO DO:
Create your loom by wrapping the yarn between your two posts or tree trunks. You’ll use quite a bit of yarn and it doesn’t have to be perfect – I crisscrossed the yarn as I was wrapping it and made the design kind of messy. This makes the fabric scraps “stick” in the loom a little better.
Tie off the ends of the yarn tightly and supply a pile of long strips of scrap fabric or ribbon for kids to weave with.
They’ll start at the bottom of the loom, weaving their scraps in and out of the yarn until they reach the top. Again, it doesn’t need to be perfect – let kids experiment with their own weaving methods, creating their own one-of-a-kind masterpiece!
HOW TO CHANGE IT UP:
-Try weaving some nature into your loom! Long pieces of grass, flower petals, pine needles – anything you can find in your yard!
-Try one of these other great weaving activities for kids:
–Paper Plate Weaving from Red Ted Art
–Twig Weaving from Nurturestore
–Weaving and working with nature from Artchoo
SKILL AREAS ADDRESSED: Fine motor skills, grasp, visual motor integration, coordination
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[…] Fine Motor Activities: Simple Outdoor Weaving Loom […]