Paper craft · Confident · about 40 minutes
Patterned Woven Paper Mat
Uses scissors · Uses glue · Adult help suggested
- Colored paper printed with the mat template, 216 x 279 mm (8.5 x 11 in (Letter) or A4)
- Paper of a second color printed with the strip template, 216 x 279 mm (8.5 x 11 in (Letter) or A4)
- Blunt-tip scissors
- Glue stick
- Ruler (to check the scale bar)
For the grown-up: Help hold the folded mat while the slits are cut, and remind children to stop each cut at the end of the printed line.
Safety: Use blunt-tip scissors and cut away from your fingers.
Blue dashes: valley fold (toward you). Pink dash-dot: mountain fold (away from you). Thick line with scissors: cut. Yellow: glue.
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Start. Print the mat template and the strip template at 100% (Actual size) on two colors of paper. Check the 5 cm bar. Lay the mat sheet printed side up.
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1. Cut: Cut out the mat along its solid outer line.
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2. Cut: Cut the strip sheet apart along its lines to make eight strips.
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3. Mountain fold: Back to the mat: fold it in half along the middle line, with the printed lines on the outside.
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4. Cut: Cut along each line from the folded edge, through both layers. Stop at the end of the line, so the border stays whole.
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5. Unfold: Unfold the mat. It now has eight long slits with a solid border all around.
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6. Weave: Weave strip 1 near the top: over two, under two, over two, under one. Slide it up against the border.
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7. Weave: Weave strip 2 the same way but shifted one place: over one, under two, over two, under two.
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8. Weave: Keep shifting one place each row. Strip 3: under two, over two, under two, over one. Strip 4: under one, over two, under two, over two.
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9. Weave: Weave strips 5 to 8 just like strips 1 to 4. Push each row up snugly. Diagonal stripes appear!
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10. Glue: Glue down the end of every strip on the left and right borders, and trim any strip that sticks out.
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11. Check: Press the mat flat under a book for a few minutes. Turn it over: the back shows the stripes the other way!
If something goes wrong
- The stripes do not line up diagonally. Check the start of each row: every new strip starts one place later than the strip above it. Slide a strip out and weave it again.
- A cut went through the border. Put a small piece of tape across the back of the border to mend it.
- Gaps show between the rows. Push each strip up against the one above before you weave the next, and glue the ends only at the very end.