Homemade Beads: 3 Ways
Topics: Preschool, Math, Arts and Crafts
Stringing beads is a fun way to give boredom the boot. And most preschoolers, both girls and boys, enjoy taking a crack at it. Beyond fueling creativity, beading also has another trick up its sleeve: it helps young kids practice patterning, or sequencing, which lays the groundwork for math, reading, and science. You can buy a sack of beads at any craft store. But here are 3 inexpensive ways for kids to make their own beads, from scratch.
Pasta Beads
What You Need:
- 3 cups of uncooked pasta with holes (use just one type: penne, rigatoni, macaroni, etc.)
- food coloring in 3 different colors
- 3 bowls
- a measuring cup
- rubbing alcohol
- a spoon for mixing
- yarn
- scissors
- masking tape
What You Do:
- Scoop 1 cup of uncooked pasta into each of the bowls. The pasta should all be of the same type.
- Add a few drops of food coloring (using a different color for each bowl) to each. Stir. Keep adding a few drops at a time until the pasta begins to change color.
- Add ¾ Tablespoon of rubbing alcohol and stir until evenly coated.
- Transfer the colored pasta to a cookie sheet lined with wax paper (or aluminum foil) and let it dry overnight.
- Once the pasta is dry, it’s ready for beading. Cut a piece of yarn into the appropriate length for your child’s necklace or bracelet, wrap a piece of masking tape around one end to make stringing easier, knot the other end, and set them to work!
Clay Beads
What You Need:
- 1/2 cup flour
- 1/2 cup cornstarch
- 1/2 cup salt
- tempura paint powder in at least two colors
- warm water
- several mixing bowls
- pencil, knitting needles, or toothpicks
- yarn
- scissors
- masking tape
This recipe is enough to make one color of bead. Double or triple it for each additional color.


Comments from readers
Once we had provided ordinary thread with stiff end (by using just favicol n letting it dry) for a competition on Grand Parents Day & it worked.