Strings on Your Fingers

String Figures, Tricks, Catches, Knots, Designs, Cat's Cradle

GATE Workshop for Students in Grades 3rd to 5th
Olive View and Woodson Elementary Schools
Corning Union Elementary School District

April 4th, and 11th, 2005, 2:30 - 4 p.m.

May 2nd, 4th, and 9th, 2005, 2:30 - 4 p.m.

Location: Maywood Middle School Library
1666 Marguerite Avenue, Corning, CA

Michael P. Garofalo
Instructor
Technology and Media Services Supervisor
Corning Union Elementary School District

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Students from the Olive View School will gather at Olive View after school and then will be
escorted across the street to the Maywood School Library by the GATE teacher. Students
from Woodson School will be bused to the Maywood School. Parents are asked to pick up
their children at the Maywood Middle School at 4:30 p.m..

Children participating in this workshop will learn how to make various string figures and perform
various tricks and catches with a loop of string. They will be introduced to the use of string figures
in storytelling in cultures all around the world. They will prepare performance cards with artwork
and notes. They will learn to read and follow written instructions for making string figures, and
learn how to teach others to make string figures. They will be introduced to print and on-line
resources for learning more about string figures and creative art projects using string and yarn.
They will perform short string figure skits for others. They will learn about how language and
expectations affect what we see. They will learn about the differences between the applied
and the fine arts.

The books used in this class are available from the
Olive View and Woodson School Libraries:

Cat's Cradle; A Book of String Figures. By Anne Akers Johnson. Palo Alto,
California, Klutz Press, 1993. 36 pages. ISBN: 1878257536.

Fascinating String Figures Edited by the International String Figure Association.
Dover Publications, 1996, 1999. 78 pages. ISBN: 0486404005.

String Figures and How to Make Them: A Study of Cat’s-Cradle in Many Lands.
By Caroline Furness Jayne. New York, Dover Publications, 1906, 1962. Index,
illustrations, 407 pages. ISBN: 48620152X.

String Games from Around the World. By Anne Akers Johnson. Palo Alto,
California, Klutz Press, 1995. 70 pages. ISBN: 1570540403.

Website Resources: Strings on Your Fingers. By Michael P. Garofalo.
This website includes an extensive annotated index to string figure websites, a bibliography of
string figure books, notes on recommended books for children, quotes about string figures, and
photos of the instructor. URL Address: http://www.gardendigest.com/string/index.htm