Material:

- Paper. You can buy fancy colour paper for this activity but reclaimed paper will work just as well. Take a look at your recycling bin to put aside brightly coloured paper. Larger or thicker paper will be better for small children.

- Glue stick. We tried glue stick and PVA glue. Both work but the stick was easier.

- Scissors or a paper guillotine. Watch your fingers, guillotines are incredibly sharp. Put it away as soon as you have finished cutting the paper.

- Something to roll the paper around: pencils, straws, chopsticks. For younger children, they need to be fairly wide. Older children will do fine with something thiner.

- String or elastic

The activity can be adapted for children of all ages. Older children can most likely do everything themselves apart from using the guillotine. Younger children will enjoy threading the beads an adult or a sibling will have made for them. They will also love unraveling the beads you have painstakingly made for them. The beads harden when they dry.

- Cut strips of brightly coloured paper, adjust the width to the age of the children. Younger children will find bigger beads (1″-2.5cm) easier to manipulate.

- Spread the glue on the paper, leaving an inch or so at one end.

- Place the end without glue around your pencil or chopstick then start rolling the paper around, keeping it nicely straight.

- When you get to the end, add a bit more glue then roll the bead between your fingers a few more times.

- If it’s easy to remove from the chopstick, remove it now. If not, you can leave it to dry and harden

- String the beads onto the elastic or string. Make sure that the children aren’t left unattended with the string.

Enjoy!

Children’s activities: making paper beads and necklackes is a post from: Natural Nursery Blog

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