Special occasions are always better with handmade artwork. Make decorative placemats to adorn your table for your next party or family gathering! Get your child to help weave string and ribbon into burlap to create colorful placemats perfect for adding a bright, personal touch to any meal. This is also a great art activity to help build her developing fine motor skills and even get her involved in planning for a special celebration!
What You Need:
- 12" x 18" sheet of burlap
- Pencil
- String and ribbon
- Large-eyed plastic or metal needle
- Scissors
What You Do:
- Encourage your child to create a sketch of the design she would like to create on the sheet of burlap. Invite her to design a decorative border or a design for the center of the placemat. Her sketch could be a design of her own choosing or one for a specific occasion.
- Help her gently pull out threads of burlap from the edges of the sheet to create a pretty decorative fringed edge.
- Now it's time to embellish! Help her thread the large-eyed needle and tie a knot in the end of the string or ribbon.
- Following the design she sketched on the burlap, encourage her to stitch the string or ribbon into the placemat. She can use one color or many different colors—it's up to her!
Once her first placemat is finished, encourage her to make more for the rest of the table, or stick with one so she has her own special placemat to use at dinner.
Sarah Lipoff has a K-12 Art Education degree and enjoys working with kids of all ages.
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