Craft Stick Bracelets

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Make beautiful bracelets using our R39100 Wild Animal Craft Sticks! An ingenious process creates a curved shape in the craft stick that you can use as a bracelet!

Age: 4+

Duration: 10 minutes. Project dries overnight.

Learning Objectives: Combine craft stick designs with flower pieces to make beautiful combinations. Observe the effects of glue and water on manipulating the shapes of craft sticks. Use simple techniques to create an effective, visually appealing product.

You’ll Need:

R39100 Wild Animal Craft Sticks

R15657 Wild Flower Paper Bits

• Small plastic disposable cups

• White glue

• Glue stick

• Water

• Paint tray

• Container

• Paper towels

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It’s a good idea to protect your work surface as you will be working with glue and water. Children can share one container of water and glue between each other, but that will inevitably lead to some messes!

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Set up all of the supplies you’ll need. The craft sticks are patterned in 5 different designs, but you can experiment with different designs using the Wild Flower Paper Bits.

P1019192First, mix 1 part water with 1 1/2 parts glue. You want to have more glue than water, as this will help the bracelet retain its shape. I suggest mixing the glue and water together in a bottle. Cap it off, then shake to get the two ingredients fully mixed.

P1019203Pour the mixture into a container that’s long enough to fit the craft sticks inside.

P1019206Dip one craft stick inside the container. Let it sit inside for about 1-2 minutes.

P1019211Once you remove the craft stick, it becomes bendable! Carefully press the craft stick along its length to loosen it up. Grab the ends and gently bend the craft stick inwards.

P1019213Place the craft stick inside the plastic disposable cup along the topmost rim.

P1019216Let sit overnight until it dries. In the morning, remove the bracelet from the cup to reveal a beautiful shape!

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Now you can decorate your bracelet! Pop out a few of the Wild Flower Paper Bits. Choose several different shapes and patterns.

P1019222Dab a bit of glue into the center of each flower. Layer the flowers.

P1019226Finally, add a lot of glue to the center of the craft stick bracelet and press your flower design down onto it.

P1019228Ready to wear!

P1019235You can try a number of different combinations with just a few sheets of flower bits and a great craft stick design!

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Craft Spotlight: Brilliant Beads

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Following our series of posts about our beading wonders, including the Fancy Stringing Rings last week, today I’m going to showcase a bit about our Brilliant Beads! 

R2170 Brilliant Beads come in a bright assortment of colors and shapes. Besides basic small round beads, there are some that resemble flowers while others look like geometric shapes. You can talk about each of the shapes to your students as they sift through them.

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You can also sort by color. Pick out similar colors and observe the different shapes that make up that color group. Get students to describe the beads with practice vocabulary.

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At the Art Camp last year, our campers designed their own super-long necklaces and brilliant bracelets. To prevent groups of beads sticking together, we got the campers to use pipe cleaner as the thread for all the beads.

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Here’s another shot of some lovely jewelry!

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Use Brilliant Beads in a variety of projects, not just for jewelry! Check out the video below that shows you how to make your very own bead-paintbrush. This “paintbrush” will add a provide your students with a new technique for painting!

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Craft Spotlight: Fancy Stringing Rings

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Make your jewelry fancy with Fancy Stringing Rings! Beautiful, bright colors and recognizable designs make these beads a joy to work with. String, sort, play and mix colors together on a light table! 

Beading is a prime fine motor skill activity that’s always a favorite for arts and crafts sessions! The best part about our Stringing Rings is that they are large enough to fit through any size string–even pipe cleaners.

There are a range of different activities you can do with the Fancy Stringing Rings. Stay tuned for this week’s original craft post featuring our Stringing Rings!

In the meantime, enjoy the video below showing how to make simple bracelets using Fancy Stringing Rings and tape! That’s all you need.

Simply lay your beads onto a strip of tape and seal up! It’s that easy!

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