Bedford Village Kindergartners Take on Tapestry Making

“One boom, two boom, three boom,” a chorus of tiny voices counted out dissonantly. Their sticky fingers held down pieces of yarn, ribbon, buttons and felt in the back of art teacher Madalyn Grano’s Bedford Village Elementary School classroom.

The kindergartners were using a trick Grano had taught them while introducing a brand new fiber arts project: tapestry making.

“This is different than anything we’ve done before,” she warned them. Grano then modeled attaching things to tapestry blanks (which were made up of a square piece of felt attached to a piece of wood).

“We’re going to use a glue we haven’t used yet called tacky glue,” she said. Because they were working with fibers, it was important for students to be patient and press down each piece that they added for a few seconds to be sure they would stick. That’s where the booms came in. Grano coached them to count for “ten booms” to make sure their pieces stuck.

Students were thrilled at the prospect of the new project, with many throwing their hands in the air to volunteer to be part of the first group that experimented with it.

As they made their way back to the fiber arts station that was set up, their eyes lit up at some of the supplies available to them.

“Ooooh, look how shiny this is!” one student gasped.

“This looks like gold!” squealed another.

“If you see some sparkly things, give them to me,” a third student said.

When it came to creating their tapestries, students took different approaches. Some went in without a plan, choosing supplies that excited them and building their art from there.

“I’m just picking whatever,” one student explained, immediately beginning to boom count while pressing down a felt circle.

Others had more specific ideas in mind when they got started. There was a rainbow, a jellyfish and a face.

“This one has a really big mouth and it’s gonna bite so big!” one artist explained.

Throughout the process, Grano walked around offering helpful comments about reaching and sharing supplies and talking to students about their artwork.

“I‘m loving the composition of your tapestry,” she told one student. “There are such great colors!”