. . . on a rainy afternoon with your three-year-old friend? What to do with a wiggly little boy who has already read all the books about trucks and excavators and back hoes, who has finished cooking in the kitchen and flying in the rocket ship, who is a tiny bit tired but not able to wind down, who needs to be quiet and engaged while the 18-month-old takes a nap?
Why, you do pine cone weaving, of course. Obscure, a little odd; colorful and tactile; forgiving and repetitive; easy and yet filled with opportunities to work on fine motor skills. So that's what we did.
Small skeins of leftover yarn, cones from a variety of evergreens in the neighborhood (that have had time to dry out and open up a bit), and a pair of scissors: that's all you need. Brightly colored yarn is nice because it shows up well.
My young friend had a great time. I let him be "in charge" of the scissors. He was loose and free with the yarn, and enjoyed choosing the order of colors to weave on each cone. You can see his have joyful abandon, while mine are, shall we say, tightly wound. (Who, me?)
It's amazing what a simple craft can reveal about personality.
