Making brilliant beads

Little Miss 4 and I continued our creativeness using air-dry clay and made some beads!

Materials

• Air-drying clay - we bought three different colours to mix, green, blue and yellow. 
• Knife
• Toothpicks
• Thin elastic thread or a thin piece of leather
• Darning needle (you might need a needle to thread the beads onto the elastic or leather, but we didn't)

I bought our air-drying clay on-line from Eckersleys and it was delivered in two days (shopping on-line is easier at the moment with a 5 week old).

1. Roll the three (or however many) colours of clay into sausages and put them side by side.
   
   


2. Use a knife to cut sections of the same size through all three lengths together.
   
   


3. Take a section of all three (or however many) colours and roll it into a ball between your palms until the colours are mixed together. Repeat until you have created all the balls.


4. Using the toothpicks to make holes through the centre of the balls to make beads.
   
   


5. Leave the toothpicks in the beads while they dry overnight (it may take longer than overnight).


6. When the beads are dry, thread them onto the elastic or leather to make a bracelet or necklace.

Do you have a favourite craft project with your kids?