Posted by Trina: November 21, 2011

* This article was written by Sandy HAPPYFAMILY's Sales Manager

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.  I don’t know what’s better: the comfort food or the friends and family coming together to eat it.  I always loved helping my mom put the marshmallows on top of the sweet potatoes.  That was my addition to the feast: marshmallows.  (It’s a wonder I became such an organic, healthy foods lover.  Although, I suppose my mom was using organic sweet potatoes, so a few marshmallows couldn’t hurt, right?)

When I was teaching, I wanted to give my students the opportunity to contribute more than just marshmallows to the Thanksgiving celebration.  I thought about parts of the traditional meal that didn’t include food; and I realized that the pomp and circumstance of the meal was just as important as the meal itself.  Thanksgiving is a time when we get out the good plates (usually in a house with children, this means the breakable ones that you only use for very special occasions,) polish the silverware, and cook foods that we associate with the annual holiday.  Why not add a special place setting to the special meal?

So, my students and I created some special Thanksgiving placemats that they could bring home and use at their Thanksgiving dinner.  In addition to the obvious perk of having a child feel like he/she really contributed to the special dinner, these placemats help children develop their fine motor skills and even incorporate some math concepts through patterning.

Woven Thanksgiving Placemats

Materials needed:
-Construction paper in fall colors – brown, green, yellow, orange, red
-Scissors
-Glue (I recommend glue sticks for easy application with children)
-Laminator (optional)

Procedure:
1.  Fold a piece of construction paper in half.  On the side that is creased, cut evenly spaced slits (approximately 1 inch apart), stopping 1 inch from the end of the paper.  Each child creating a placemat will need one of these pre-cut pieces of paper.

2.  Cut 1 inch thick strips of every color of construction paper (make sure the length is the same as the paper you cut in Step 1.)  Each child will use between 10 – 20 strips, depending on the size of the paper you prepared in Step 1.  These strips serve as your “thread” or “yarn” for weaving. 
(Before moving onto step 3, I recommend making your own placemat to show children what the finished product can look like.  You can also make one with them to model how you’re weaving.)

3.  Show your child the different types of paper (slotted and strips.)  Allow her to choose what color she wants her slotted paper to be.  This will be the color that you see the most of in your placemat if you use more than one color strip to weave with.

4.  Model how to take one strip and weave it “over under” each piece of the slotted paper.  Make sure you’re saying “over under” out loud to show so that your child recognizes the pattern of “over under over under.”  At various points as you weave you can ask questions like, “what comes next?” or “Should I go over over/under under?”

5.  When you finish the first strip, model how to glue the strip into place at both ends of the larger paper.  (If you don’t have a glue stick, I recommend showing how 1 dot of glue is enough to hold the whole thing together.)

6.  After you have woven one strip and glued it in place, have your child weave the next one.  If she is able to do it (weaving does require developed fine motor skills), allow her to complete the entire placemat.  If not, provide assistance.  Either way, you’re helping to develop those skills.

7.  Once the placemat is complete, talk about the colors in it.  Show how the “over under” pattern led to an “orange, yellow” pattern on one line or an “orange, green” pattern on another.

8.  If you have access to a laminator, laminate the placemat for use at the Thanksgiving table.  If your child really enjoyed the activity, she can make one for everyone’s place on Thanksgiving Day.