During the months of February and March, our school was selected   for inclusion in the CraftEd project , in association with Wexford Education centre. We were paired with a local visual artist Annabel Konig and decided to do a project incorporating weaving called Weaving the Walk. The children in the Junior room were asked to go for a walk at home and observe the colours and textures of the environment. We had previously done some weaving so the children were familiar with the technique. Annabel brought in sticks and twine to make frames for the weaving. The children were asked to bring in found materials, wool, fabric , ivy and other flexible materials which could be used to represent the colours and textures of their walk.

 We quickly discovered that we would need extra hands so the senior children also got involved, tying strings, helping to select materials and assisting the younger children. As a result, although it was intended as a project for the junior room ,all the children in the school became involved in a practical way. . Some of the children found it difficult to get started on selecting materials and others grasped the concept straight away and showed great imagination in representing their walk in the weaving.

After each workshop, asked the children to reflect on what they had been doing. We discussed it first and then they wrote about it. I put some of these responses in a scrapbook , along with photographs of the various stages , to keep as a record .

When they had finished their pieces of weaving, we took them to the senior class to show them how they had turned out and each child told the “story” of their walk , as represented in their weaving.

It was a wonderful experience for everyone and the children were justifiably proud of their finished pieces.