Summer Holiday Wallhanging Project

This is a great project to keep in reserve for a morning when the kids are glued to their devices, or are simply a bit bored or restless. A resourceful, tactile project, using minimal resources. You can work together with your littlies – guiding them through the process, and encouraging those fine motor skills with all of the threading, or get the big kids rising to the challenge of a little problem solving! Whoever gets involved – it will be FUN!!

Three things you might not have thought to use for wall-hangings

I have been thinking about some materials that could make a great wallhanging. You probably already have these materials lying around the house, easy!

Straws – you can buy these at the supermarket, or even better, recycle some. They can be cut into short or long beads which are super easy to thread onto string, wool, or pipe cleaners. Threading straws is great for developing fine motor skills and to consider patternmaking.   

Pasta – We have all probably tried some messy gluey pasta project at some stage, but pasta is great just as it is, used as beads. It comes is a range of shapes that can be threaded onto string, ribbon, or pipe cleaners. You can find plenty of great techniques for colouring the pasta, but I love it just as it is. Penne or rigatoni are both easy for small hands, macaroni or elbows are not for the faint hearted. This is another activity which is great for those fine motor skills.

Scraps of fabric – Fabric offcuts or discarded clothing are excellent materials to re-use in art projects. They work great in wall-hangings because of their lovely kinetic qualities. Fabric is also often very colourful, and if it is not, draw on it with felt-tip pens! 

Cut the fabric into squares or strips, and either make holes in them to thread, or knot the string around them for a more tassel-like effect. In my project I have tied the fabric around the hanging stick.

My wall-hanging project uses all of these materials together. I started with a piece of scrap dowel, but you can find a stick outside to use. I tied 6 pieces of string to the stick, and just started working down, connecting the strands in different ways as I went.

I really love how fresh and summery this finished piece looks – its fun, resourceful, and a little bit challenging – but so worth it!! Goodbye daggy pasta projects – hello funky wallhanging!

Brighten up your house or bedroom with this funky bespoke pasta art!!

Happy holiday creating!

Tracy x