Hula Hoop Radial Weavings

Access the full lesson with vocab, teacher instructions, and step-by-step student instructions!

I love to teach students about weaving—and weaving on the size of a hula hoop is great because it gets students excited about having their own looms and making a wall hanging.

Actually, though using hula hoops is a great option, I often use circular plumbing tubing and just cut them into “hoops” for each student. This is a far cheaper option, and achieves the same results because the tube itself gets wrapped in yarn anyways.

Students start by wrapping their hoop, and wrapping string around the hoop to create the loom.

Students learn about warp (the loom strings) and weft (the yarn going around the loom) and create patterns of color schemes. I’ve also had students create scenes by going in after the weaving is done and sewing in details (clouds on a sunset sky, waterfall of water, etc). Students can also add poms or fringe or any other fiber element to make their weaving creative.

Try it with your classes and let me know how it goes!