Elmer the Elephant by David Mckee

   

  

Try some paper weaving and colouring to make an Elmer picture!

Activity: Paper weaving & colouring

Age: Yr 1 - Yr 6 (See tip at the bottom for how to adapt to use with older children)

Resources: Black paper, Strips of coloured paper, glue scissors


What to do:

1) Measure and draw a 2 cm border inside an A4 sheet of thick paper or card.

2) Measure 2cm lines across the inside of the border and cut slits following each one with a craft knife and ruler or fold the paper lengthways and use scissors to cut them from the middle, stopping at the border.

3) Cut 2 cm strips of coloured paper lengthways.

4) Weave your strips through your A4 paper lengthways, being sure to to start each strip the opposite of the last one e.g. 'over, under' 'under, over'.

5) Finish weaving and stick down the end of each strip on the front and the back of the paper.

6) Now you can either draw Elmer over the top of your weaving or draw and colour him in and then cut him out and glue him on top of your paper weaving background. (I will add an Elmer shape for you to use at the bottom of the post) Add a googly eye if you have one!

  

TIP: Older children love to do paper weaving. Here is an example of year 5/6 work. This was achieved by folding the paper lengthways, after drawing the border, then drawing curvy lines, instead of straight ones, and cutting up to the border while still folded, then open out. The strips used to weave are different widths.