Created by Jessica Cruz (Trinity College ’26), Lola Craig (Trinity College ’24), Sonia Lau (Trinity College ’24)
Supplies:
- Paper Plate
- Hole puncher
- Yarn
- Scissors
- Beads & Charms
We will split the class into three groups and each teacher (Jess, Lola, and Sonia) and pass out the supplies and lead students through starting the weaving activity.
Myth: This activity is based on the myth of Arachne. She was a beautiful woman who was extremely good at weaving. She was always weaving great work but one day she began to gloat that she was better than the goddess Athena at weaving. This was a huge offense to the gods, because of this, Athena disguised herself as an old woman and came down to Earth to chastise Arachne for boasting she was better than the gods. The old woman disguised as Athena then revealed herself and challenged her to a contest of weaving. Athena wove a tapestry that depicted the power of the gods with Zeus, Poseidon, and Athena all winning battles with mortals in the corner punished for defying the gods. Arachne wove a tapestry that depicted scenes of infidelities from the Gods and showed their hubris and arrogance. Even though Arachne’s work was flawless and brilliant, the message of her tapestry along with her previous boasting that she was above the gods made her so angry (and the fact that the tapestry was flawless) that she turned Arachne into a spider and ruled she would spin threads for the rest of her life.
Activity – Weaving contest with paper plate circle weaving: In this lesson, we will tell the myth of Arachne and use the video “Athena and Arachne: The Girl Who Challenged the Goddess – Greek Mythology in Comics-See U in History.” This will prompt us to introduce the activity of the lesson in which the students will have their weaving product that they would use if they were in the contest themselves.
Directions for the weaving craft:
- Fold the paper plate, cut a circle and leave an inch of the outside. (You may paint the paper plate to whatever color or design you choose)
- Take the hole puncher and make about 16 holes along the border spread out evenly.
- Take the yarn and start looping through the holes in whatever way you would like and tie the knot at the end.
The end result will look similar to the craft to the right but without the bottom strings.