Make It Monday: Bead & Straw Necklaces

When I was perusing the Internet for fun Fourth of July crafts, I found a cute beaded necklace project that would be perfect for little toddler fingers {link here}. The fireworks art that I also found was quite specific but the necklace idea could definitely translate to any time of the year so over the weekend I took the girls on a little bead hunt at good ol' Michaels arts and crafts store.  

Side note: I worked at Michaels when I was in high school! And at MJDesigns before it went out of business... Anyone?? 

That little nugget of information plus knowing that I'm a kindergarten teacher might leave you less than surprised to know that I can usually navigate a craft store pretttttttyyy well. But... If you've been to any craft store lately {as in, since the history of Pinterest} you know that craft stores are not just craft stores. Craft stores have home decor sections, gardening supplies, DISHES for seriousness sake, and dollar sections for quick gifts. Don't get me wrong - I LOVE THEM. Here's the problem: it took me for.ev.er. to find paper straws. PAPER STRAWS. I swear the "other" craft store had them in the cake section in about 43 coordinating colors but I could not find them anywhere. Meanwhile, Janie now has cherry slurpee down her romper and Nora has the zip tie container open (a random fun find).

Crises averted and I happened upon a tiny little clearance section that had a one single package of fun patterned paper straws. Perfect. Sold. In the cart they go. 

Next stop: plastic beads. I again found a package amongst the rest of brightly colored pony beads on clearance making my total project cost $3, which would include surplus beads for another fun idea down the road. I will never know if there were more than just this one package of straws in that store, but we got what we needed and it was time to get crafty at home. 

For this beaded necklace project you will need: 

Paper straws

Pony beads

Yarn or string

Tape to secure the ends 

Containers to hold your beads, for tiny fingers 

To get started, we cut our straws to make longer skinny beads and put them into one bowl and poured our pony beads into another bowl. I prepared some yarn I had on hand with some tape wrapped around one end for easy threading and a pony bead tied around the opposite end to keep the beads from coming straight off the other side. Then, the girls went to town. 

Janie threading her little pony bead.

Nora did pretty well on her own, threading the little beads. We did learn that the yarn didn't go through the straw beads very well so the tape had to be the same length or longer than the bead itself. We had to cut the straws smaller after we got started. 

Janie needed more help but was able to put the pony beads on by herself if I held the yarn for her. We strung beads until we didn't feel like stringing any more then simply tied them in a knot at the end and accessorized! 

This was definitely a toddler friendly project that was easy to set up, easy to do, and easy to clean up... The best kind of project! Plus, it made the girls happy. Even better!