8th grade students learned about the Botswana coil basket making tradition and then created their own basket with pre-wrapped paper core and yarn. Students were able to incorporate a design for extra credit. My favorite part of this lesson was having students push the tables to the edge of the classroom and rearrange their chairs in a circle in the center of the room. With this age group being as social as they are it was a nice change to have one large conversation rather than having six going on at one time. I was nervous initially promoting socialization but it turned out to be rather nice and the students were very productive. I should mention however that my class sizes range from 22-15 students and a class of 35 my become overwhelming. Having two circles may be a better option.
Beautiful coil baskets. I love the designs and colors.
ReplyDeleteI am interested in using this project in my own classroom. Could you be more specific about "paper core"? Did you just roll up paper? How did you get it to form into a curve? Thank you.
ReplyDeleteyou can purchase paper core through blick art supplies. I think they call is coiling core.
ReplyDeleteDid you have the kids use a needle to connect the two rows together as you coiled? If so metal or plastic?
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