Little Paper Basket Craft for Kids

Teaching little ones math is so much fun with this cute basket weaving craft!

You don't need expensive art supplies for art projects. Using just magazines and glue, I had my two girls create little paper baskets. Both of them really enjoyed working on them. They were focused from start to finish.

Math Learning Opportunity: Fractions and Area

Aside from learning a simple weaving technique, this was an opportunity to practice fractions with my 6 year old, KindergartenDropOut (KDO). I made sure to explain to her that we were folding and tearing into thirds. There is also an opportunity to discuss area as described below. Her older sibling joined our activity after she got the hang of it. KDO gave a quick how-to explanation to her older sister using math terms! I first introduced her to fractions (just halves, thirds, and fourths) during our unschooling days before she started PreK at a public school. It's been a while but we now use fractions daily through regular cooking sessions. With these little baskets it was exciting to use fractions in a new creative way. I also want to mention that the timing on this weaving project was perfect because we started our fairy tale study unit on the same day. The girls quickly noticed baskets and weaving in a couple of stories we discussed (both Little Red Riding Hood and Goldilocks had one, plus Goldilocks helped with weaving part of Baby Bear's chair to fix it). I didn't plan it that way; it was a happy coincidence!

Little Paper Basket Tutorial

Materials: You just need 5 magazine pages, and glue!

Step 1: Tear each sheet into thirds lengthwise.

Step 2: Fold each strip into thirds and put glue on the inside fold.

Note: I tore the first 2 or 3 pages into strips, while she put glue on the inside of the fold.

 *Math learning opportunity: During this step I explained to her that I was tearing pages into thirds and folding each strip into thirds. After the 2nd or so sheet of paper, my 6y/o decided she could tear, fold, and glue the rest on her own.

KDO used my phone to hold the
strips in place while she added strips.

Step 3: Lay four strips side by side. Then start weaving four strips through the first set of four.









*Math learning opportunity: During this step I explained that I chose 8 strips for her to weave. This would create a 4x4 square area on the bottom of her basket. We counted the squares at the end of this step to illustrate. I asked her if she wanted to keep it this way or add more to create a bigger basket. Her decision was to keep the 4x4 format.

Step 5: Lift the ends that are on top to add glue and press them back down.

Step 6: Fold and stand four ends of one side. Begin to weave a new strip while keeping the sides up. Make sure to go around all four sides. If its easier, lay the basket on its side. Use small paper clips to hold strips together. Extend the strip by gluing another strip to it. The strip will end up being too long; you can cut it or just keep gluing around the inside of the basket.

Repeat to make the basket two-strips tall.

Step 7: Fold all the flaps inward and glue. 

Step 8: Make a handle by gluing each end of a new strip to the sides of the basket. KDO decided she wanted two strips. She also used her one extra strip to wrap around the two strips to keep them together.

Hope you like this project. If you try it out, please come back and leave a comment. I'd like to hear how it went.