Woven Eyed Bats

Here is a great Bat project.  It is an adaption of this "Bat Card" project from Better Homes and Gardens.

When I first saw it I loved the strings on the wings and set about making it a larger project for the kids at school.  This is what I came up with.

Now some of you may remember this project.  I have taken that woven eye concept and adapted it here.

Now for this Bat you need 2 circles cut from a cereal  or cracker box. 

For ours we are using one circle 3.5 inches in diameter and one 2.5 inches in diameter.  To measure I just find a circular object that is about the right size and trace around it.

You then want to poke a hole in the center with a large knitting needle.

I then cut 13 notches at about equal distance from each other.   (it doesn't have to be 13 but it must be an odd number) I had to cut 48 of these circles so you get to know the distance just by looking...I didn't measure.  Besides it's for Halloween so if they are a little bit wonky that's OK.

Now in the past I would string each string separately....as I started stringing all 48 I quickly surmised that I didn't need to do this.  I cut a length of yarn and threaded a large plastic needle.  I then  just tied the first wrap of string to itself at the back and continued stringing all 13 notches.  At the end you just tie it to itself on the back again.  I watched Monday night football and stringed eyes!

So once the warp (the 13 strings) is all prepped I threaded some black yarn on my plastic needle (for young kids knot the yarn onto the needle)....I then tied it onto the back pushed the needle thru the hole and started weaving (under,over) until I got the pupil to the size I wanted.  As you weave you need to get loosen up your tension or else your weaving piles up on itself instead of out.

I then tied on some red yarn to the black and continued weaving.  The kids at school had a choice of red, orange, or green.

We then took an 11x17 or so piece of heavy paper and painted it with some liquid tempera in black with a big brush.

Before the paint dries the kids took combs, picks, skewers, etc. and textured their painted paper a bit.


Set aside to dry.

We then took a half sheet of black poster board and cut out our wings.  For the kids I took the template from BHG and blew it up really big.  I had them cut it on the fold so both halves would match.  You could also have them come up with their own pattern.

We painted the bit of cardboard that is left after weaving.  I painted mine to match but you could use a contrasting color.

Trace out your Bat body on the back of the painted paper.  You can make your own design just make sure the head is large enough to support those big eyes you have woven.

Next you need to punch 4 holes on each wing for the string.  Before punching hold up the yarn to make sure you get it in the right place.  You just need to watch out for the one at the top and the one at the bottom on the side...make sure the angle is right or else your string might go over the side of the wing.

Start stringing your wing.  I take a good length (about 2 and 1/2 arms length) and feed one end thru the top and the other at the bottom.  Tie it on to itself at the back.

String thru the other holes always ending back at the top and then tie it off to itself at the back.

It should look something like this.  Repeat on the other side.

Now place your body in the center of your wings and fold them.  This adds a bit of dimension to your Bat.

Glue your body into place.

Glue your eyes into place.

If you wish you can add the "Happy Halloween".  If you have a computer class with the kids get them to choose a different font for each letter and then print at size 72.  Cut out and attach.

At school we decided to make ours upside down.  I hope to have some pictures of the student work shortly.

That's it!

After my last post on the Puppet Box I received a few requests for templates for the puppets.  I have now added this to the post and here is the link as well.  Big Pumpkin Templates

See you next time.

Woven Person Mixed Media

Here is a woven person project that I've been working on.

The weaving is not that difficult so I could easily do this with Grade 2 and up (even grade 1 with a little extra help).


It has added text so it is a good thematic art project that encompasses weaving (art), language arts, and computers.

You need a piece of cardboard to make your loom.

I cut 9 notches in mine at the top and the bottom.  You can make it bigger if you want.

Now you need to wrap the warp (say that 10 times fast). Knot the first one and then wrap the string into each notch around the back and back to the front until all notches have string. Knot off the last one.

Now start weaving.  The first 9 weft strings will also form the arms so cut 9 pieces about 24 inches long and weave them in one by one leaving the same amount of extra yarn on both sides.


Don't forget to alternate "over, under".

Move your cardboard sideways and divide the yarn ends into 3 groups of 3.

Braid a loose arm. You want it a little bit longer than 1/2 the length of the cardboard loom when it is in the upright position.

Repeat on the other arm.

It should look something like this.

Now knot on your yarn and continue weaving the sweater of your person.  When you come to the end of one side just continue back again alternating "over,under".
You can use a fork to help you push the weft up to keep it tight. When you get to the waist you can also pull it in tighter to get the shape of a person.

When you get to the waist change colors by knotting the 2 ends together and start to weave the pants.  After a couple of inches separate and weave a single leg.

Please note if you have an odd number of warp strings just group 2 together and treat it as one.

Knot off the leg at the end and then go back and do the other leg.  You can flare the pants out a bit at the bottom by adjusting how tight you weave.

It should look like this.

Cut the warp strings in thru the middle of the back and then tie off 2 at a time.  For a clean look you can pull the ends thru the weaving on the back side a bit and then trim ends.

Now you have to decide what to do with your person.  I wanted to mount it in a picture so I made heads out of heavy watercolor paper.  If you wanted to leave it as a pure textile you could make a head out of fabric.

Here I'm painting the faces.

Paint a background.

When I cut the heads out I left a long neck which I glued to the woven body, I then glued it into place on the background.

I added some shoes out of felt.

I wanted to add some text to it to make it an art project with extra layers to it.

I printed out on the computer all the words for yarn and string I could think of and copied it down the page.

I printed this off and painted it with some light watercolor.

I cut the words SWEATER from it but you can do whatever concept suits for your class.

I also added a little text line to pull viewers thru the picture.  You could have students write a Fall poem or a poem about wind, having to wear sweaters, etc.

That's it.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.  I am taking a few days off  to present at an Early Childhood Education conference in Saskatoon.

I won't be back with a post till next week.

See you then.

Woven Eyes - Frogs

This is a project based on "weaving in the round".

You may remember the flowers that Grade 1 did last spring using a paper plate to weave a round.

In this case we are weaving on a smaller cardboard disk creating eyes.

Here is Jeff's (age 7) frog.  He whipped this up in record speed being the master weaver of the family.

Find some stiff cardboard and trace out 2 circles for your eyes.  Cut out.

Using a knitting needle poke a hole in the middle of your circles.

Now you need to divide your circle into an odd number.  The easiest way to do this is divide it into fourths and then in one of the sections divide it into 2 and in the remaining 3 sections divide them into thirds.  This way you always end up with 11.

Take your scissors and cut a little slit at the top of each line.  Then take a piece of yarn, poke one end thru the hole and the other end you feed thru the slit and tie it to the ends in a knot around the back.  Trim ends.  Repeat this for each slit until you have yarn marking all sections.

Take the end of the yarn you want to weave with and push thru the hole in the middle from the front.

Tie the end to one of the other pieces of yarn in the back and knot off.

Measure out a arm's length or so of yarn, cut, and then feed thru a plastic needle.

I usually tie the short end that's thru the needle into a knot on the other long end, close to the needle.  This stops the kids from pulling it out and having to re thread it all the time.

Start weaving.  Alternate under and over and don't pull to tight as you want it to lie flat and not bunch up in the middle.

When you want to change colors just knot them together.

When you are finished weaving feed the end thru the next slit to the back.

Knot onto a piece of yarn in the back.

Now you can paint the ends of the cardboard where the weaving stopped.

On some watercolor paper or heavy sketch paper paint the body of your frog.  We marked out where the eyes will go.

Cut out and glue to background paper.  You may have to put a book or 2 on top to have it dry flat just make sure to put a layer of wax paper on top of your creation first so your books don't get all gluey.

Of course my son Ryan couldn't resist making an one eyed cyclops.

See you next week.