Peace Bunting is a fun craft activity to do, and a way to celebrate peace.
Materials
- flipchart paper and pens
- lots of fabric scraps and/or scrap paper
- scissors per person or pair
- coloured pens or fabric markers
- string or ribbon (at least 1m per person)
- needles and thread or sewing machine (optional)
- fabric glue (optional)
What to do
Introduction to symbols of peace
Draw a dove on the flipchart and ask if participants know what this is. Guide them if necessary (white bird etc). Ask if they know what it symbolises. Give clues to the answer (peace) if needed. Explain that we use many different symbols to talk about peace. Draw a poppy and the CND logo and explain that the these are symbols of peace too. With older young people you could ask if they know about where these symbols come from and talk a bit about the white poppy/CND.
Explain that peace means different things to different people. Martin Luther King famously said “true peace is not merely the absence of tension: it is the presence of justice.”
Discussion questions:
- What do you think of when you think of peace?
- What does peace mean in your home? In your community? In the world?
- What images do you think of when you think of peace?
How to make your bunting
Explain you are going to show everyone how to make triangle shaped bunting, but they can make a different shape if they wish.
Ask everyone to take a piece of A4 paper and demonstrate the following:
Hold the paper with the short sides at the top and bottom. Fold a crease from the top left corner to the middle of the bottom edge. Repeat for the top right corner. Cut along the creases to create a long triangle.
If you are creating bunting from A4 paper you can use this technique to make the bunting itself. If you are using fabric/paper scraps of different sizes, you can use this triangle as a template to draw around in order to cut identical triangles out of your chosen material(s).
Decorating
Once everyone has one piece of bunting explain that we will decorate each piece with images that remind us of peace. Depending on the materials available, participants could use pens or fabric markers to draw peace symbols. Or they could cut out shapes and sew or stick them on.
Finishing off
When there’s 15 minutes left, or you’re running out of materials, it’s time to attach the bunting to ribbon or string. If you have fabric and a sewing machine/young people are able to sew to a decent standard, they/you can sew the short side of their triangles to a long length of ribbon to make their bunting. If you don’t have fabric and a sewing machine, young people can cut a small hole in the top of each piece of bunting and thread string through it.
Tidy up and take home your bunting to use as decoration!