How to Weave a Basket out of the Newspaper

Long before everything was made out of plastic, people used baskets to carry things. Weaving reeds is a age-old craft and one I knew would capture my eight-year-old son's interest.

Our reeds were made out of Saturday's newspaper. With our hands, several pieces of newsprint, and a glue stick, we successfully made a small basket.

Here's how we did it.

1. Open the newspaper and cut along  the center fold. You'll need 11-12 pieces of cut newsprint. Tightly roll it the long way.
2. When completely rolled, flatten.
3. Add glue to secure. Repeat until you have made 11-12 newspaper reeds. Try to make them approximately the same width. (Our newspaper reeds ends up being about 1 inch wide.)
4. Now lay four reeds vertically on the table in front of you. Weave four other reeds through them, centering the woven part in the middle.
5. It will now look like a cross made out of newspaper.
6. Fold the ends of the reeds up and begin weaving another newsprint reed through the spokes, moving around the basket to make the first layer of the basket's sides. (It helps to have another set of hands for this step!)
7. Glue the reed's ends together by overlapping. Continue with two to three more layers of reeds, building up the basket's sides.
8. Now fold over the reeds that are still sticking up either into or out of the basket. Trim if necessary and tuck the ends down into or up and under existing weaving.

Voila! You're done. Paint it if you'd like.

This idea came from a wonderful book of craft ideas I checked out from our local library.