Dream Catcher Craft & Education

This past weeks art project: Dream catchers! I haven’t made one of these in years, since I was in grade school at least. I forgot how to string it at first, but after a quick google it was like riding a bike. I included some of our favorite screenshots from the Google search for anyone looking for ideas or how to steps, check them out below. I’m glad I did the search, the unicorn theme we chose would have never occurred to me. Check out our take on a unicorn theme dream catcher below as well. We don’t exactly believe in the whole “bad dreams being caught” thing, the youngest likes the idea of it, but for us this was just a fun art project. It being a fun activity didn’t stop us from learning though. Below I included a little bit of what we learned during this fun project, a little history, a bit about the colors to use, etc. You will also find a new Disney download below!

A little history….

Dream catchers are associated with Native American culture in general, but dream catchers are mostly believed to have originated from the Ojibwa Chippewa tribe particularly. The Ojibwe word for dream catcher is asabikeshiinh, which actually means “spider.” It refers to the web like design woven to cover the hoop. Dream catchers were/are hung above the beds of sleeping children to protect them from bad dreams and/or evil spirits. Legends held that the spider web design of the dream catcher would only allow good dreams to pass through and float down the hanging beads and/or feathers to the sleeping children ensuring a pleasant, well rested night. The tradition was later adopted by many other cultures, some because they believed in the power of the the dream catcher and others just for fun.

What colors are best for your dream catcher….

If you adhere to the belief that dream catcher do actually work, knowing what colors to use and avoid may be important to you. White and clear seem to be recommend often so the dreams (which are believed to be colored) are not restricted to their assigned color, but can go where ever they can/want since white and clear are not colors per say. This allows good dreams/forces to pass through the webbing while stopping the bad. Using white and black for your dream catcher is typically to represent of the dualism of the world, showing the two sides of the same aspect; night and day, dark and light or life and death. A white and black dream catcher is said to be the perfect choice for someone looking for balance in their life.

What colors are the best overall is widely debated, but if you are dealing with a specific emotional issue in your life, you may want to have a dream catcher that’s webbing corresponds to the color of your dreams and/or emotions you want to attract. To help you choose your perfect dream catcher colors I included a few color charts I found that show the colors and their linked emotions. They basically all agree on which color represents which emotion. Check out our rainbow unicorn themed dream catcher below along with the newest Disney pack and other fun ideas/suggestions.