Happy February Friends!

I hope you enjoyed Lovebird Lou by Tammi Sauer with pictures by Stephanie Laberis! It's one of my new favorite books! I love how Lou's family is very supportive and proud of him. They give him confidence to try new things. 

This month's activity: Woven Heart Basket

This month we are making a woven heart basket. It is a small basket that is perfect for a couple of Valentines or pieces of chocolate! 

Supplies: 2 pieces of color paper, scissors, pencil, glue stick (optional), and ribbon (optional)

Step 1: Fold both of your papers lengthwise and then unfold them. 

Step 2: Fold both of your papers hamburger style. Draw one half of an oval on each half of your paper. Have the open side of the oval go down to the fold. When we cut out the ovals we want to have 2 long ovals. 

Step 4: Keep the ovals folded, draw 3 straight lines on the ovals, and then cut on the lines. If you don't want the lines on your template showing on your basket, unfold the paper after cutting the 3 lines. Now fold your paper the other way to hide the lines on the inside. 

Step 3: Keep the paper folded and cut out the ovals. This should give you 2 long ovals. 

Step 5: Label the strips on your templates. On your folded oval label the strips D-C-B-A. On the other folded oval label the strips 1-2-3-4.

Step 6: Place the oval on the right side under the oval on the left and rotate them to form a right angle. 

Step 7: To start weaving, take Strip 1 and weave it through the loop of Strip A. ​

Step 8: Weave Strip 1 around Strip B.

Step 9: Wave Strip 1 through the loop of Strip C. 

Step 10: Weave Strip 1 around Strip D. 

Step 11: Push Strip 1 up until it touches the top of the slits. 

Step 12: Do the opposite for Strip 2.
             Take Strip 2 and weave it around Strip A.
             Weave Strip 2 through Strip B.
             Weave Strip 2 around Strip C
             Weave Strip 2 through Strip D. 
​             Push Strip 2 up against Strip 1.             

Step 13: Repeat Steps 7 to 11 for Strip 3. 

Step 14: Repeat Step 12 for Strip 4.

Step 15: Gently push your strips to the edge to form the heart. Erase any pencil marks. 

Step 16 (Optional): Cut out a handle from paper or ribbon and glue both ends inside the heart basket. 

I hope all of you enjoy your heart basket! We will see you next month for First Friday Storytime on Friday, March 1st at 11:00am and on the blog for next month's activity. 

Have a great month!
​Ms. Marissa