Today in just ONE HOUR; with the help of 8 volunteers, 5 mothers and one children's librarian, Rachel and I ( the only weavers in the group) helped 21 kids, ages 5-10, weave 21 baskets. The kids were happy weavers and each child seemed very pleased with their finished little basket. I don't have any pictures of the finished baskets- we were all too busy cleaning up as another group was coming in for another program in 30 minutes. (Think small round wood base with continuous weave , a block of color in the center and a loopy rim-that I kind of invented)

I divided the group for the first demonstration with half going over to Rachel and her friend Allison who were guarding three big Rubbermaid Tubs of Dyed Reed. The plan was for Rachel and Allison to pull the colors out for the kids , thus keeping the long strands of reed tidy and organized, BUT as Rachel later told me, "It was insane, with 10 excited kids all grabbing around in the tubs". By the time I did the demonstration for the reed grabbing group things had calmed down but you can see the great expression on Rachel's face as she is talking to the librarian about her experience with a pack of hungry reed grabbing kids.

Not a lot of smiles in these photos but at the end all the kids had big smiles. I just wanted a big glass of ice water!