This was a simple and easy art lesson for The Legend of the Persian Carpet by Tomie dePaola. The kids liked it and it can be done easily with all ages down to kindergarten.

For materials you will need:

• Colorful card stock or sturdy paper. You can also use construction paper if it’s what you have.
• Paper cutter to cut strips 1/4 ‘ thick. You can use scissors but it takes longer. You must cut them longer than the cardboard base.
• Scissors and stapler
• Cardboard. Use the size and weight you want. I used full corrugated cardboard but any will do. Cut to desired size.
• Paper tape

With a ruler draw line on the top of the paper to leave attached. Then going the other direction, draw lines to that point each about 1/4 to 1/3 inch think. You can make the strips larger for younger children and smaller for older. Paper weaving is a lot of fun, it’s easy and it’s a good skill for kids to have early on. I also like adding variety of mediums and textures. So for this project I offered ribbons and different textured paper strips to add variety for weaving.

Cut your lines to make strips for weaving. Go only to the top line, that makes it easier to keep together. And to make that even easier we glued behind the uncut portion and attached it to the same size cardboard. In some cases I stapled it to the top of the board. This allowed the kids to have a worry free top piece to add to. It eliminated a bunch of frustration with weaves coming undone while working. This way, it was fail proof.

Continue to weave until the project is complete. You can ad interest with multi media such as ribbons and even yarn.

Secure strips by weaving tightly. Push them up as needed until no more can fit. Finally, you can use  colorful craft paper tape as a finished border but also to secure and finish off the edges. You can also staple the corners if you think it needs it.

My students did a lovely job and enjoyed the project. I gave the several different strips in both solid and patterned paper. So it added even more design and interest. They idea was for them to be very colorful like the Persian carpet and I think that was accomplished!

Art Around the Ancient World- the line up:

The following lists each lesson by civilization, what each lesson’s focus will be, and the media/project tutorial.

• Prehistory– Cave Paintings– Painting the Ancient Way
• Sumerians – Ancient Writing -Cylinder Seals in Clay
• Egyptians – Egyptian Art – Text as Texture/ Egyptian Headdress
• Assyrians and Babylonians -Near East Metalworking –  Babylonian Art Lesson for Kids
• Phoenicians– Ancient Dyes– Purple Batik Cloths
• Hittites and Ancient Israel– TBA
• Ancient Africa– Akuaba Wooden Doll– African Scratch Art
• Minoan and Mycenaean-Greek Mythology Masks-MinotaurPaper Mache Masks
• Persians– Persian Carpets and Decor- Paper Weaving Project – ( YOU ARE HERE)
• Ancient China- Geometry– Tangrams
• Ancient Greece– Pythagorus – Tessellating Jars
• India- Spice Jar Layer Art
• Rome- Mosaics