Sharjah24: A hands-on workshop called “Weaving turtles and butterflies” at the 43rd Sharjah International Book Fair helped children hone their creativity, patience and attention to detail as they set about crafting turtles using easy-to-handle materials like yarn and colour pens.
Workshop facilitator Sara Mezher and her sister Mariam first provided the young girls in the nine-plus age group the ‘skeleton’ of a turtle – made by glueing two ice-cream stick cross-wise to represent its legs and another in the centre to be its spine and head – and asked them to weave yarn around it in a specific pattern.
Sara announced: “Today, we are going to make a turtle. For this, you can choose threads in any colour you like, cut it, and spin it around the middle randomly till it covers the whole section and creates a hump. The second step involves making the body of the turtle. Choose a different colour, and take it around each stick in a pattern and connect them. The third colour woven around the body will complete the shell of the turtle, and the final thread is glued to the stick to hold it tight.”
The workshop made the art of weaving easy for children by using yarn, sticks, sketch pens, glue and scissors. Once they completed the turtle body, they coloured its legs, and gave a face to the animal with a colour pen.
Mezher said she alternated her workshop sessions between turtles and butterflies. “Children will get to know about a new art that is simplified for them. It will improve their fine motor skills and also teach them patience and attention to detail,” Mezher added.
SIBF 2024, which will run until November 17, is presenting a comprehensive programme of 600 workshops for various age groups, including 465 sessions for adults and children and 135 for early childhood, covering heritage, media, entrepreneurship, technology, environment, arts, life skills, and creative writing.
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