More Fun with Yarn!

Fourth and fifth graders are spending our last art lesson finishing up our yarn weaving activities. As a part of their "Art of Mexico" unit, 4th graders made circle weavings representing Native American suns and moons, a common motif for the ancient Aztec and Mayan cultures. We used warm color schemes for the suns and cool for the moons, and either could use neutrals. Last year we finished these off with a mosaic background, seen here, but unfortunately we ran out of time this year, getting out of school a week earlier.

***Update: my weaving handout & prep sheet for the project below is now available on Teachers pay Teachers - see if it might come in handy for your cardboard loom weaving - https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Mrs-Knights-Smartest-Artists ***
Tapestry weaving has been on the minds of my 5th graders for the past 5 weeks, and we researched some tapestries from the Middle Ages to prepare.  These can be used as bookmarks or wall hangings after removing them from the loom. We learned how to make a loom, how to add our warp strings, and how to weave 4 different patterns, as seen here:

we use a packet to keep our definitions and diagrams with our looms and weft strings

this example shows tabby weave at the top, then dovetail, then a 2-color stripe

this shows the checkerboard pattern in complementary red & green

vertical stripes and other patterns can be created during "free weave" -
once all 4 patterns have been demonstrated