Weaving for Kids: Fun with Fiber and Kids

Before working for Handwoven, I spent three years working in the education department of the New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum. As part of my job I gave tours of the museum to thousands of children, demonstrated corn grinding and wool carding for visitors, did a bit of living history, and taught and helped teach many children's classes during the summer. It was all great fun, but I especially loved teaching. Most of the classes had a simple theme: gardening, working with wool, pottery, and (of course) weaving. The classes would start with a brief history lesson on the subject, often accompanied by a trip to a specific exhibit, and then we'd delve into making.

In what perhaps was a bit of foreshadowing, my favorite classes were the ones that dealt with fiber. First, it was fun to teach children where the fiber that makes their clothing, blankets, and other cloth comes from. Most kids would guess it all comes from "the store" and were blown away to know their cotton T-shirts came from plants and their wool sweaters were made of sheep (or goats or alpacas and so on).

It was also fun to show kids how that fiber can be turned into something solid. In the weaving class I helped teach, each child made a small cardboard loom and learned to weave a small pouch on it. It was very simple, but it kept the children entranced for hours as they played with color, texture, and asked countless questions along the way. In another class on working with wool the students were all taught how to wet-felt. I still remember how their eyes lit up as they watched the wool fibers transform from loose bits to something solid. While the teachers explained the science of wool, to the kids it was still a sort of magic.

What better way to pass on the joy of creating beautiful woven items to the future generation of young crafters than teaching children how to weave. Not only will children find it fun, but weaving can be a therapeutic, productive activity, and great for improving dexterity and concentration. Not only is the art itself a great activity for all ages, but the types of weaving projects for kids are so vast and inexpensive to make. These step by step instructions are perfect for creating fun and beautiful pieces of handwoven art in our FREE eBook, Weaving for Kids: Free Weaving Patterns for Kids.

Learn how to make a cardboard loom and how to felt woven fabric.

Transforming trash into treasure can be one of life’s great joys. How about turning an ordinary box into a three-dimensional, four-selvedge, portable cardboard loom? Even kids can’t resist the pleasure of pawing through the recycling bin—searching, testing, assessing—trying to find a box that is the perfect size for the bag they want to make! Or weave the perfect winter accessories: a hat and purse woven on a pin loom. Along with these FREE projects, you'll become a part of the online community. Your membership provides you access to our free projects library (including even more free handwoven designs), our community blogs, and our daily email newsletter with all sorts of tips and tricks!

Weave a Tapestry Bag on a Box

Perfect boxes for weaving bags can come in many sizes. This box would be just right for a briefcase, that for a tote bag, and, why, that one will slip right into the overhead bin on an airplane! Once you’ve enjoyed the pleasure of plucking a sturdy loom from the trash, you’ll never look at the UPS truck in quite the same way. To heck with the contents—it is the box that counts! Weaving on a box is straightforward, exciting, and a great way to use up bits and pieces of yarn.

Weave a Felted Hat and Purse

Here’s a brightly colored felted flower of a hat as a reminder of spring when the weather turns cold and blustery! A purse in similar colors (see pages 8–9) is inspired by the popular felted purses made from knitted or crocheted squares. Pin-loom-woven squares work just as well for felting and can be faster to make!

These clear, step-by-step kids weaving loom instructions will guide weavers through the process of creating a cardboard loom from a box to create a unique tapestry bag plus fun felted winter accessories. Great for any beginner, the techniques learned in these kids weaving projects can lead to endless possibilities. See the love and joy of handweaving come to life for any child exploring these fun and easy projects on weaving for kids.

Happy Weaving!

Christina