Tana bana

I remember that i started working with threads and paper with a group of 9 children some 3 years back.
The first interaction was more to do with my telling them and they doing it. This lead to them exploring the material on their own and making very unique and interesting things.
What i realized while being in the class was that, these children are so used to the concept of adults telling them what to do.because after every turn of the thread or one weave they would come and ask 'is this right??' and i would be in an utter astonishment because i didn't know what to say at first and then when i would tell them to look at the work and find out..compare my weave and theirs, they would be blank..
After this i would go home and think about what to do..there was frustration and anger. The thought about how these children have become so mechanical..not connecting..not observing..n lots of such thoughts.
But after a week i realized there is no point cribbing or getting angry about this. The children are like that and now i want to work with them so..what can i do to get them alive...
And the next class i tried a new thing ..I was going to start paper weaving with them. So i took the paper weaving book..my samples and laid them in front of them and started asking them if they knew how to do it..before i could elaborate...a few of them started explaining and later when we had lots of ideas i asked them to try all the ideas that were shared ..the first question that they had was..'What if we make a mistake??'
I told them we will see what happens, there are no mistakes in exploring and they went ahead and it worked beautifully..
I just had to explain to them when should the thread go up and when should it go down for one design..that's it.They came up with their own designs and to my surprise they weaved their names through paper weaving and did that at home and brougt it at the next class..that was a day of surprises for me..truly.
We used one sided sheet strips for weaving and the board was colored card paper.
I had a bigger learning here for myself..hands on work helps open up minds beautifully , to things like exploring new things..making mistakes is ok..there is one right way..without the use of words..:)
This class with 9 children was two and half years earlier..and i met the whole group again this year for a 'making news-paper for school' project. and they all in their introduction said we cannot forget you..we had so much fun together..and i relived the experience again.

Below i have pics of some of the works..enjoy..

P.S. Please also read the following blog..their view on working with hands is what i exactly believe in..

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