Jack O` Lantern Weaving Mats

EDUCATION
SUPPLY
ACTIVITY
www.roylco.com
©
2014
Canada:
30 Northland Road, Waterloo, Ontario, N2V 1Y1
USA:
PO Box 13409 Anderson, SC 29624
No. 16031
Jack O’ Lantern
Weaving Mats
Weave a spooky and loveable Jack-O'-Lantern using autumnthemed paper strips and pumpkin face accessories! Perfect for a
Halloween-themed class project. Develop fine motor skills
through essential weaving exercises while creating a fun craft
project that your students will enjoy designing. Mix and match
the pumpkin face accessories to give your Jack-O'-Lantern
different appearances. Place finished craft projects around the
classroom as decorations or string up along banners.
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In this guide, learn about:
• Weaving your Jack-O'-Lantern weaving mat
• Customizing your Jack-O'-Lantern's appearance
• Using finished Jack-O'-Lanterns in other craft projects
• The purpose of Jack-O'-Lanterns throughout history
• The life cycle of a pumpkin and alternative uses
• How Halloween has evolved over the decades
Witchy Weaving?
There are 24 weaving projects, perfect for an entire
classroom of aspiring weavers! Each pumpkin is pre-cut with
weaving slots to make it easier for your students to weave their
paper strips over and under.
The pumpkin weaving mats feature colorful artwork to
inspire your students to weave wonderful projects!
Weaving requires just a bit of
expertise in guiding the paper strip
over and under the slots in the
pumpkin weaving mat. To ensure
that the weave stays in place,
alternate the start of the weaving in
the next row. For instance, if you
were to begin the first row by first
weaving under, then over, on the
next row, you would begin by
weaving over then under. Although
it might take some practice, be sure
to alternate the start of your weaving
before finishing the remaining paper
strips: this will ensure that the entire
design holds together. It is a very
common mistake to continue
weaving from the same point all the
way down, which causes the paper strips to slide in and out
from each other. Draw the weaving strip straight across the
pumpkin weaving mat to the end. Tip: Use a strip of tape to hold
the ends together if needed.
Each project features 6 colorful patterned strips. There are 4
different sets of patterns that are pre-cut; separated them from
the paper backing. Each set of paper strips is cut in a specific
way: wave-like, curvy, straight and jagged. These various
designs can be used to bolster students' understanding of line
types. When talking to students about lines in art, explain that
lines are a space filled between two points: the start and the
end. Sometimes lines can continue on and on. To illustrate this,
ask your students to point to the beginning of the line in their
weaving strip, then point out the end. Trace the movement of
the line in between these two points with your finger to
illustrate how lines work in joining these two points.
In addition to the paper weaving strips, there are 4
different sets of pumpkin face accessories. The artwork looks
like the face accessories are “glowing,” just as they would
when carved into a real Jack-O'-Lantern. To help with
customization, encourage your students to mix and match the
various pieces to best suit their pumpkin character. Paste the
features down onto the woven pumpkin mat.
There are two additional pieces to each Jack-O'-Lantern
weaving mat: the tendrils and leaves. The tendrils are two long
strips of green paper that can be attached to the top of the
Jack-O'-Lantern. Use the blunt end
of a pair of scissors to curl the
ends of the tendrils into a tight
spiral. Hold the tendril down with
your thumb as you do so. This will
make the tendril appear realistic as
it extends outwards from the 2D
Jack-O'-Lantern. Paste one end of
the tendril onto the pumpkin stem.
Repeat for the other tendril. You
can paste the leaves onto the
opposite ends of the tendrils to
give your pumpkin that extraauthentic look!
The Jack-O'-Lantern weaving mat isn't simply an exercise in
fine motor development, but a pleasing, thematic art project
that students can customize to suit their creative whims!
Curriculum Connections
• Develop fine motor skills
• Combine assorted patterns
• Learn principles of design
• Relate art projects to cultural event
• Create unified art project with multiple elements
• Mix and match elements together
• Use finished projects for other craft activities
• Explore the history of Jack-O'-Lanterns
Why Jack-O'-Lanterns?
Jack-O'-Lanterns are essentially pumpkins that have had the
inner pulp removed and scraped away, and the front is carved
in to look like a face. A candle is placed on the inside of a
Printed in Canada
Made in Canada
No. 16031
Jack O’ Lantern Weaving Mats
pumpkin to illuminate the pumpkin face from within and make it
look spooky! The candle's flickering makes it seem as if the
pumpkin is “alive” and “watching” those who look at it!
The tradition of carving pumpkins first began in Europe,
specifically in the eastern region of the United Kingdom in the
1600s (there is evidence that vegetable carving was a popular
practice even in New Zealand and the South Americas several
thousands of years ago). This practice may have started as a way
to conserve light at nighttime! Back then, there were no
flashlights or street lamps to help light the way during darkness.
By carving out the inside of a vegetable (such as turnips or
gourds) and lighting oil or fragments of bark, one could carry
light around with them no matter where they walked. This shows
how thrifty some of our ancestors were! However, nowadays we
use the same practice of carving out the insides of vegetables as
a way to make decorations for a traditional event such as
Halloween.
In fact, the tradition of carving pumpkins gained greater
prominence when events such as All Hallow's Eve, All Souls' Day
or Samhain were established. During these times, it was
believed that the boundary between the world of the living and
the world of spirits became very thin, allowing these spirits to
emerge and interact with human beings. These spirits could
either be malevolent, mischievous or benevolent.
To eliminate the chance of encountering an evil spirit, and
perhaps even to scare them off, people would dress up in scary
costumes at night and go door-to-door, singing songs and
reciting blessings for those who would donate them favorable
gifts such as food and drink. The act of providing a gift to these
costume-wearers signified that the homeowners were generous,
good people. If no food, drink or other gift was provided, the
costume-goers would play mischievous pranks on the
homeowners. This could be perceived as a “trick” being played
by malevolent spirits, or a warning about what might happen if
spirits are provoked.
In order to see their way at night, costume-goers would
need light along their pathways. To add to the scare factor,
vegetables were carved to look like ghoulish faces—a candle lit
inside would light the way for anyone walking out at night.
Although vegetables and specifically pumpkins were used later
on for decorative purposes at Halloween, the carved and lit
vegetables were primarily used to give light to dark streets
during the time when days got shorter, and night falls sooner.
The flickering of the candle was thought to imitate the
appearance of gas lights over swamps, which were called JackO'-Lanterns or will-o'-wisps, which is how Jack-O'-Lanterns got
their name. These gas lights appear as flickering balls of flame
that are caused by the mixing of gases over swampy areas.
Only in recent years has the image of a carved pumpkin
been added to the repertoire of Halloween festivities.
What's a Pumpkin Anyway?
A pumpkin is a type of squash that grows mostly in North
America, but has been known to grow in most other parts of the
world such as India and Asia. Pumpkins look like large, round,
orange melons (“pepon” is the Greek word for melon) with a
curved stem and tendrils up top—just like the Jack-O'-Lantern
Weaving Mats! Pumpkin pulp is a stringy, orange substance that
can be scooped out of the interior along with a large amount of
pumpkin seeds. These seeds are often toasted and salted to
make a wonderful snack; the pulp can be pureed and used in a
variety of cooking recipes, such as pumpkin pie or soup.
..../2
The pumpkin life cycle is a great way to introduce students
to how plants mature from start to finish. Like most plants,
pumpkins have seeds in them that can be replanted and
cultivated to make new pumpkins. In order to do this, pumpkin
seeds must be planted in nutrient-rich soil.
The pumpkin seed sprouts when large shoots of vine-like
tendrils emerge from the seed's shell. The vines often sprout
with an interesting arrangement of leaves and buds.
Eventually, these buds produce beautiful big flowers. The
flowers range from golden to bright orange and have farreaching, pointed petals.
Once the flowers have been fertilized, they begin to form
a green pod that will grow into the shape of the bulbous
pumpkin.
The pumpkin will have fully matured when it changes from
a bright green color to its famed orange.
Halloween throughout History
Halloween is a condensed term for All Hallow's Eve or
Hallow's Evening on October 31. This day is often synonymous
with the ancient Celtic celebration of Samhain that
commemorated the harvest season, but coincided with the
time when it was believed that spirits roamed the earth for one
day. As a result, many people dressed up in costume in order to
“scare” the spirits away, a practice that still continues to this
day.
The practice of trick-or-treating dates back to the late
medieval times when beggars would travel door-to-door around
Christmastime, asking for scraps of food and leftovers. The two
practices—of celebrating in costume and beggaring door-todoor—eventually merged to become part of the Halloween we
know of today. In recent times, Halloween has developed into
an organized event that is performed across multiple countries
across the globe.
Most trick-or-treaters practice Halloween in the same way
through costuming, decorating and receiving treats, all with the
overarching theme of ghosts, ghouls and spirits taking part in
the festivities. Most decorations are modeled after “scary”
things that help to promote this theme.
Lasting Impressions
Extend your Halloween-themed decorative projects even
further with the following ideas!
Choose a bright colored ribbon that is at least a ½” (1 cm)
thick. Remember to stick with Halloween-inspired colors!
Choose red, orange, black, white or gold. Unroll the full length
of ribbon or cut at a length where it can be strung up in an
appropriate area, such as above a set of classroom desks or
across a wallboard. Tape down the backs of finished Jack-O'©
2014
No. 16031
Jack O’ Lantern Weaving Mats
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Lantern projects onto the length of ribbon. You can place the
Jack-O'-Lanterns at a distance from each other and intersperse
the open space with beads or some other decorative item, or set
them directly side by side. Repeat for all your students' Jack-O'Lantern projects. Hang the finished Jack-O'-Lantern banner in
your classroom as a Halloween decoration!
Make a mobile! Take a clothes hanger and tie differing
lengths of string from the bottom wire. Let the string drape
down below the hanger. Attach each opposite end of the hanger
onto a Jack-O'-Lantern with tape. Punch a hole into the top of the
Jack-O'-Lantern weaving mat to tie on the string. Hang the
finished mobile from a ceiling hook or above a window for a
spooky look! Tip: To make an easy and beautiful mobile, start
with our R51302 Nature Mobile Maker.
Students can make their own assortment of patterned strips
to use with the Jack-O'-Lantern weaving mats! Use decorative
paper (such as our R15203 Decorative Hues Paper or R15200
Patterned Paper Classpack) to cut strips for weaving. Keep your
designs between ½” (1 cm) to ¾” (1.5 cm) wide and about 7”
(18 cm) long. Use scrapbook scissors that can produce special
cut lines. Once students have cut out the desired number of
paper strips, begin weaving! You can mix and match the
provided patterns with the personalized paper weaving strips for
added effect.
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©
2014