Get crafty with the DUCK Lab! Each Friday, trained research assistants from the UNCG Psychology Department’s DUCK Lab will guide at-home crafts for children ages 3 to 12. Parents can join too to learn fun facts about crafts that foster age-appropriate skills or learn about the DUCK Lab’s nonprofit child development research projects.
This Friday, the DUCK Lab invites all school-age friends to join Andrea and make an apple basket to get into the Fall spirit. Follow along as Andrea takes you through each step and see how construction paper can be manipulated into some fun, fall décor!
Parents, did you know?
This craft offers an opportunity for your children to showcase their growing patience and problem-solving abilities! Read on below for more info. about the connection between these types of activities and age-appropriate developmental milestones.
We also invite you to check out our child development research opportunities, which are now modified for the virtual world! Please click here to learn more or sign up to participate with us.
Here’s what you’ll need to get started:
Supplies:
Construction paper (various colors - colors will be for basket and apples)
Scissors
Glue
Markers (optional for tracing)
Directions:
Select the colored construction paper that you would like to use for your basket. Cut it into a basket shape, such as a “D” or a regular rectangle. If you would like, you can trace the basket shape prior to cutting.
Start from a long, flat edge of your basket and cut about 4 slits ¾ of the way to the opposite side of your basket. Leave about one inch between each slit.
Select a different color of construction paper and cut multiple strips (about 1 inch wide and approximately the length of the basket). Cut as many as you think will fit onto your basket. These will be woven into your basket.
Weave the strips through the basket. Alternate weaving over and under the pieces of your basket that you created in Step 2.
Glue the ends of each strip to the edge of the basket. This will secure each strip in place.
If the strips are dangling from the side of your basket after gluing, trim the edges of the strips with scissors.
Cut out apple shapes from your remaining construction paper. If you would like, you can trace the apple shapes prior to cutting.
Glue the apple pieces to the top of the basket. Make sure they are all glued to the same side, that way your basket has a front and back (the back will be the side that you pasted your apples on).
The DUCK Lab: Woven Apple Basket
Relation to Developmental Science:
The apple basket involves a variety of steps, and children will likely be challenged most by the weaving. For this step, it will be necessary for children to practice patience and simultaneously think about how to best tackle an unexpected problem: often, the strips will fall out from the basket prior to securing the strip edges with glue. This will encourage children to brainstorm how to keep each strip in place until all the weaving is finished. Luckily, children in middle childhood are increasingly able to hold multiple ideas and perspectives concurrently in their minds, which will help them think about the best solutions for keeping each strip in place, maintaining their weaving pattern, and reminding themselves to be patient. For example, they can reflect on which pieces of the strips might be most critical for keeping the strips in place or how to best grip the basket during their weaving so that the already woven strips do not move around and fall off.
*Great for children in middle childhood!
The DUCK Lab is a partner in the nonprofit Child Development Research Center in the Department of Psychology at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. They conduct studies of social and cognitive development with 2- to 12- year-olds. Families who participate in their research studies are volunteers in the Greensboro community who generously offer their time to help support research and training opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students.