Art Extra
Lydia
Grades 3-4

Woven Placemat
Kids weave purple placemats to remind them that great things are possible with God's help.

Spark Resources:
None

Supplies:
•    Purple construction paper, 12" x 18" (30 cm x 46 cm), one sheet per kid
•    Assorted purple-colored paper, such as wrapping or scrapbook paper
•    Scissors
•    Glue sticks
•    Markers
•    Rulers

Set Up:
Cut the assorted papers into 1½"-2" (4-5 cm) strips and set them on the worktable. Work through the cutting and weaving steps to make sure you are familiar with them.

Instructions:
Today's story was all about Lydia, a woman whom Paul met when he was travelling. Lydia owned her own business. She sold beautiful, expensive purple cloth to rich and royal people. But in our story, Lydia did something much more important – she became a follower of Jesus! To remember this story, you're going to do a weaving project. How many of you have woven before? Your weaving project today is a simple under-over-under-over pattern, and I'll show you how to do it. We're using different purple papers to remind us of Lydia, and that great things are possible with God's help!

1. Have kids fold a 12" x 18" (30 cm x 46 cm) piece of construction paper in half so that it measures 9" x 12" (23 cm x 30 cm) when folded. Have kids use the ruler to mark a line about 2" (5 cm) in from the non-folded edge as a "stop cutting" mark.
2. Keeping the paper folded, have kids hold their paper so that they can see their marked line. Then, invite kids to begin cutting slits into their paper, always beginning at the fold and ending at the 2" (5 cm) line they marked. Kids will need to cut at least 6 -10 slits in the paper for weaving.
3. Let kids choose the precut paper strips they want to include in their weaving project. Help them get started on weaving the first strip in an UNDER-over-UNDER-over pattern into their construction paper.
4. For the second strip, help kids start weaving as above, this time in an OVER-under-OVER-under pattern. Return to an UNDER-over-UNDER-over pattern for the next strip, and so on.
5. When kids finish weaving a strip through, have them use a glue stick to secure the ends of the strip to the construction paper.
6. Make sure the kids weave enough paper strips to make a solid woven design for their placemats.

These placemats look great! I know that when you use them, you will think about Lydia and remember that great things are possible with God's help.

If you have less time . . .
Create simpler placemats: Cut paper strips that are 3" (8 cm) wide prior to class. Have kids cut only 3 slits into their folded construction paper sheet, then weave the precut 3" (8 cm) pieces in place.

If you have more time . . .
Have kids fold the construction paper in half as described above, then show them how to cut wavy designs into the paper, using the same 2" (5 cm) mark as a "stop cutting" point. When they weave straight strips into the wavy slits of the paper, the finished placemat will have a crazy design!