Homemade Beads: 3 Ways

What You Do:

1. Scoop 1 cup of uncooked pasta into each of the bowls. The pasta should all be of the same type.
2. 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.
3. Add ¾ Tablespoon of rubbing alcohol and stir until evenly coated.
4. Transfer the colored pasta to a cookie sheet lined with wax paper (or aluminum foil) and let it dry overnight.
5. 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
• Tempera 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.

What You Do:

1. Combine the flour, cornstarch, and salt. Mix a little bit of tempura paint powder into the warm water and add it a little bit at a time to the dry mix, until it forms a sticky dough. The consistency should be similar to clay.
2. Roll the dough into small balls (these will be your beads) and poke a hole into each one with a pencil, knitting needle, or toothpick. Make sure to make the hole big enough for yarn or string to pass through.
3. Put the clay beads on a covered cookie sheet and allow them to dry outside on a sunny day. Depending on the weather, this can take up to a week. (NOTE: If you’d rather not go through the work of dividing the dough into multiple bowls for coloring, you can make this recipe with plain water, without the tempura powder, and allow your child to color the beads by hand once they’re dry, using ready-made paint.)
4. When the clay 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!

Paper Beads

What You Need:

• Several colors of construction paper
• Pencil or knitting needle
• Glue
• Scissors
• Yarn
• Masking tape