kindergarten fish weaving art project

Kindergarten fish weaving art project 

I will have to admit that weaving is one of the things I don't like to teach. My patience is always worn thin after teaching it. I found this project on- line and decided to give it a try. I  actually researched two projects and combined the two. The initial idea is from Krokotak.com. 
On Mrs.Picassoartroom.blogspot, cupid's weave, she had some great ideas on how to teach the weaving process to the kindergartners.

I let the children pick out what color they wanted for their fish. As a class I showed them how to fold their paper in half. I told the children to almost fold the paper in half (not quite). Each student received a pattern to trace onto their paper. I know you aren't suppose to use patterns in art, but with this level and it is such a basic shape, I thought it would be okay. I carefully showed them how to then draw the tail of the fish and then cut it out. Make sure to tell them you are cutting both sides together (don't open it up and cut it).

 I then had the children turn over their paper and write their name on the back and draw a line under their name. This is for when they are ready to cut they will stop at the line. I got this great idea from Mrs.Picasso's art room blog.

After this I had them decorate their fish with construction paper crayons. When they were finished decorating, I had them cut about four strips to the line they had drawn earlier. 

The last step was to weave the paper strips. Remember over under over under! Some students had a difficult time with this, it just takes patience.