Twig or Branch Weaving

One of my favourite projects!!  It takes forever to complete but a great project for the last couple of months of school. It forces the kids to concentrate and really take their time.

I posted all the detailed steps previously HERE.

I teach this to my mixed grade class of grades 4 - 6. It's definitely super tricky for many of the grade 4's, especially the boys who struggle more with knotting and fine motor skills. So spend some time teaching how to tie knots.

I found the lesson in this book: Kid Style Nature Crafts: 50 Terrific Things to Make With Nature's Materials. 

I bought this book about 20 years ago!

The toughest part of this project is finding an appropriate branch. It needs to be sturdy and have a good fork in it. No floppy or overly flexibly branches!  We have a wooded park near my school so I take my classes there and we go hunting for branches on the ground (dried, not fresh branches are the best). I also encourage kids to bring them from home. It takes a long time to fine the perfect branch so don't leave this until the last minute! You can paint colourful stripes on your twig first, with acrylics, for a pop of extra colour.

Choose a neutral colour for the warp thread and tie it securely to one end and wrap it around the entire fork and tie it off.

Then start with one colour of yarn, tie it on and add the needle. Go over under over under. When you reach the end, go back the other direction. Use a fork to tap down the yarn so you get a nice tight weave. Switch colours as needed. 

We weave these using plastic needles- they're perfect for this. 

I buy the Roylco brand "plastic lacing needles".

I store my yarn according to colours in plastic bags. 

Some finished twigs: