Fall Weaving in Preschool - Weaving with Feathers {Fun-A-Day!}

feathery fun with fall weaving in preschool

This week, we decided to try some fall weaving in preschool. The kiddos love playing with feathers . . . what child doesn’t? In honor of Thanksgiving, I wanted to use feathers differently than I have in the past. This led to weaving with the feathers, which turned out to be a fun experience!

Many of the children are into Rainbow Loom bracelets, which has led to a heightened interest in weaving. I knew I wanted to incorporate more weaving projects into my preschool plans, so using feathers was a great place to start! I certainly had fun, and the kids were immediately interested!

The first thing I did was create the looms for the feather weaving. Chelsey from Buggy and Buddy wrote a great post that describes how to do just that – Weaving with Kids Using Ribbons and Fabric (Homemade Weaving Loom). I followed her directions, with two changes — I used notched craft sticks, and I made the loom a little longer to better fit the feathers I used.

As I made the looms, the children came over to see what I was up to. Their curiosity led to a great discussion about weaving, what looms are, and how we were going to use our looms. Some of the kids just watched me put the looms together as they asked questions and helped me with the materials. It was a great way to set up the activity and encourage their interest!

Once the looms were ready to go, I placed them out at a table along with a pile of colorful craft feathers. Right away, two of my boys came over to see if they could use the feathers and the looms. I showed them how to weave the feathers on the loom, suggesting they use the quill point of the feathers to lead into their weaving.

Then it was on to their own feather weaving. They were really focused as they wove the feathers over and under the strings! The boys’ fine motor skills really got a workout with this activity, too. I loved watching as they deftly moved their little fingers throughout this task. There were big smiles after they’d made their feathery creations, so I know they were happy with their work.

Since those kiddos had so much fun with the feather weaving, there were requests to do this again! Something tells me the feathers and the looms will be out tomorrow!

Have you ever done weaving projects with your kids/students? What did they think of the activities?