Making light weight jewelry has become one of my 3 years old’s favorite activities lately. We have made countless necklaces and bracelets as of late. Today I’ll be sharing one of our favorite necklaces to make- a kids bead necklace with paper straw beads. You will only need a few supplies and this is actually a great activity to work on fine motor skills. Stringing and even counting are part of this necklace making activity so if you want to add a little education into the fun, you can!
Beads And Paper Straw Necklace Craft Tutorial
A few safety warnings about jewelry and kids:
Young children should not be left unsupervised to play with jewelry. Make sure your children do not place jewelry or supplies such as beads into their mouths as these could present a chocking hazard. For necklaces, consider cords that are stretchy and come with breakaway features to prevent strangulation hazard.
Paper Straw Jewelry Supplies Needed:
- Decorative Paper Straws
- Twine (For younger children I suggest safety necklace string like this one available through my Amazon affiliate link-> Stretch Magic Silkies
- Beads
- Scissors
You just need a few craft supplies for this cute craft! Plastic straws can be used for this simple craft but they will not be as eco-friendly. Plastic drinking straws will likely not come in such fun designs as paper straws do. You can remedy this by decorating with washi tape.
Instructions For Paper Straw Crafts:
Start by gathering your supplies and grab a seat at your table. We like to work on the floor so that’s just fine too! We make the paper beads out of paper straws for this kids craft. The straw pieces will be become beads on their straw necklace.
You may need to help your child with this first part depending on their age … cut the colorful straws into 1-2″ pieces to make your paper beads. Always use safety tips for crafting and make sure sharp scissors are out of reach of small children. Once you have cut your paper straws, cut a piece of your twine. It can be short or long! Whatever your child prefers. We like to make our necklaces a little longer so that my daughter can just slip them over her head instead of having to untie and tie the twine each time.
Now you are ready to start stringing your straw paper beads and beads. We alternated one piece of straw with 2 beads but any pattern that you and your child want to do is perfectly fine! Once you have the length you would like covered, tie the ends together. You have a paper beads necklace!
Since paper straws and beads come in so many colors, there are lots of different combinations that you can make! This would be a perfect playdate activity to do with a group of kids or even a birthday party! They can also make matching paper straw bracelets.
Younger kids are sure to have lots of fun picking out all kinds of colors for their paper straw jewelry. Has your child ever made his/her own jewelry? This would be a great craft activity for the first time jewelry maker. Give this activity a try soon and share a picture of your kids bead necklace on social media @familyfocusblog!
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