Sweet Dreams Weaving Practice Craft

A big part of my job at Fun Family Crafts is making sure our site features well-written tutorials for projects kids want to make. A lot of projects come to us as submissions from the creator, but plenty of others are there because I've specifically gone out looking for unique project ideas. When I find an image that would be a good fit for our site, I track down the original source and encourage them to submit the project. Then we add it to our collection of 12,000+ curated kid-friendly craft tutorials. 

Unfortunately, it's not always possible to find the original source. For example, when a blogger deletes their site, all links that previously led from an image to the tutorial become dead. Another problem occurs when someone downloads a picture of a project they like, then uploads just the photo to Pinterest, without a link to the source. Not only is the creator robbed of the pageviews and affiliate income they would have otherwise had, but the pin is useless because no one can access the tutorial from it. In both of these cases, I use Google Image Search and other techniques to do what I can to find the original source. When that fails, I use the photo as inspiration to design my own version so that a tutorial for the idea exists. Such is the case for today's project.

This version is mine:

And this is the original photo, likely a snapshot of a bulletin board, uploaded without a link or credit:

It's such a clever project, and a great way for kids to work on weaving skills. And they look so cute all grouped together. 

 

---------

Sweet Dreams Weaving Practice Craft

Materials:

• construction paper
• scissors
• glue

Steps:

Begin by making the blanket. Layer two (or more) pieces of construction paper together and cut out a rectangle the size you want the finished blanket to be. Pick one color to be the base (I used blue). Make long, vertical cuts in the base to prepare it for weaving. Do not cut the strips apart! You want them to remain attached. This is the warp. Cut the second piece (I used green) into horizontal strips. These should be detached from each other; these are the weft. Weave the weft over and under the warp. Each strip you add will go the opposite direction of the previous strip. 

When the entire blanket is woven, glue down all the flaps on both sides to secure the weaving. When the glue is dry, trim off any extra material. 

Use construction paper to create the sleeper's head, neck, and face. Cut two hands from the same skin color you used. Add hair, then draw on a face with sleeping eyes. 

Finally, cut out a rectangle for the bed and a smaller white rectangle for the pillow. Assemble everything by gluing the pillow to the bed, the head to the pillow, the blanket under the chin, and the hands at the top of the blanket. 

I'd love to know if the steps I used are the same as the ones the kids used in the original photo. And I really wish I could give credit to whoever designed this project. If you recognize it, let me know and I'll update the post!