Here’s a fun Woven Paper Snail Craft for Kids to help us learn more about the amazing features of the snail shell, while improving motor skills!

In some parts of India, you’ll find women sitting in front of little shops, chatting away as they deftly weave baskets, trays and all kinds of handicrafts. It’s amazing to simply stand there and watch their fingers move – they are really skilled!

Weaving is something that’s been around for a very long time, some say 30,000 years ago! The primary purpose of weaving used to be for shelter and fences, as well as for baskets to collect food. The main materials used were flax, hemp and plant leaves.

Later, weaving became a way of making clothing, moving from a hand loom to Jacquard looms and then power looms. In many countries, weaving their own fabric became a way for people to protest against authoritarian governments.

So weaving certainly has a lot of history behind it, and while it has been greatly industrialized, it is still a much-loved hobby today! On that note, we’ve got an easy craft to get kids introduced to the world of weaving – a woven paper snail craft!

Contents show

Wonderful Woven Paper Snail Craft for Kids

Supplies required:

Colored craft papers
Thick cardstock
Googly eyes
Pencil
Craft glue
A pair of scissors
X-acto knife

How to make the Woven Paper Snail Craft:

1. Download and print the Woven Paper Snail Craft template. The template includes parts of our little snail, like the body, shell, antennae and strips for weaving.

2. Trace the body and shell parts of the snail template on thick cardstock paper. Use craft paper in different colors for the weaving strips. Use an X-Acto knife to cut slits along the lines marked on the inside of the shell base.

3. We’re going to start with the main part of our woven paper snail craft – the woven shell! Take a colored strip and insert it through the slits on the shell base, weaving it under and over the slits in an alternate fashion, as shown.

4. Weave that strip over and under all the way to the slit at the other end. Insert the end of the strip into a slit and cut off the excess. Secure the woven strip in place with glue.

5. Take a strip of another color and weave again through the slits, but this time make sure it appears alternately to the previously woven strip. Look at the iamge below to see how it should look.

6. Continue weaving all the strips in a similar fashion, alternating each strip with the previous one.

7. Put aside the shell for now – let’s move to the body of our woven paper snail craft. Use glue to attach the antennae to the top of the snail’s head.

8. Stick the woven shell pattern on top of the snail’s body.

9. Almost done! Now glue the googly eyes to the head of the snail. Use a black pen to draw the mouth of the snail and a pink marker to draw the cheeks.

There you go – a cute little woven paper snail craft!

We love that you can experiment with different colors when making this woven paper snail craft, both for the body and shell bases, as well as for the weaving strips. That way, besides exercising some fine motor muscles, your kids can learn about complementary and analogous color combinations!

If you love snails, here are some crafts you may enjoy:

Wonderful Woven Paper Snail Craft for Kids

Supplies required:

How to make the Woven Paper Snail Craft:

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