Quill And Fox

Best Design Studio

About

Profile
Amber Robertson

Amber Robertson is the founder of Quill and Fox. A creative writing studio that helps people find their voice and share their stories. Amber is also a published author, with her first book slated for release in 2020. She loves spending time with her family and friends, reading, writing, and traveling. When Amber was younger, she loved to write short stories and plays. But somewhere along the way, she lost touch with her creativity. It wasn’t until she became a mom that she realized how important it was to share her stories—both the good and the bad—with the people she loves most. That’s when Quill and Fox was born. Amber is passionate about helping others find their voice and share their stories. She believes that every person has a story worth telling, and it’s her mission to help them tell it in a way that is authentic and true to themselves

Blog

Thanksgiving Paper Placemats
Amber Robertson
No Comments

Back in my teaching days, we always had the kids make woven paper placemats for Thanksgiving. I thought it would be great to make these with the kids at home because it reinforces fine motor skills while creating a beautiful pattern. They are super easy to make and only require a few things you probably already have. When you are done making these, check out these Free Kindergarten Worksheets for Thanksgiving.

Woven Paper Placemats are great for Thanksgiving. Making them reinforces fine motor skills while creating a beautiful pattern.

Woven Paper Placemats

You will need:

  • 9 x 12 Construction paper in Fall colors.
  • Scissors
  • Tape
construction paper and scissors

Decide which color you will use for your mat. We picked orange. Fold the paper in half and make five cuts almost to the end. You can see below how I left the end of the paper attached.

orange construction paper with cuts in it

Next, you will cut some strips out of the remaining colors of construction paper. Try to get these strips roughly the same size as the lines you cut on the larger piece of construction paper. It doesn’t need to be exact though, so you can just eyeball it. You will want to make sure you don’t cut any strips in the same color as your mat will be. We used 9 x 12 construction paper and found that 6 strips were enough to weave the entire paper.

colored construction paper strips

Demonstrate for the kids how they can weave in an over under fashion. You will start with the first strip under the paper and then pass it over the second cut and under the third and so forth. When your child is done with one strip have them rotate the mat and repeat the process on the other side.

child weaving paper placemats

When you are done with a strip make sure you push it to the strip next to it so there will be room for all the strips.

child making woven paper placemats

Don’t you just love the concentration as she weaves the paper over and under? Can you see why this is such a great fine motor activity?

child making a woven paper placemat

The finished product! You can see that the ends stick up a little bit. I used some tape to stick the ends to the construction paper. If you skip this step the strips will move about. You can secure the ends using tape on both sides of the mat.

woven paper placemats

These woven paper placemats were so easy to make and can be customized for any holiday or occasion. They were really quick to make and might be fun for kids to create before Thanksgiving dinner. When I was teaching, we laminated the mats which really made them durable and able to be used again and again. I don’t have access to a laminating machine, but if you do, or want to pay to have them laminated, they would last quite a while.

woven paper placemats

If you’re looking for more enjoyable things to do with kids, have a look at Green Kid Crafts, a monthly craft subscription package for kids that fosters creativity while developing a love and respect for the environment.

If you liked these woven paper placemats, you’ll love:

50 Turkey Thanksgiving Crafts

Thanksgiving Crafts for Kids

Share :