Safety Pin Brooch

Safety pins are in—as jewelry, that is! Your child can make this very simple, yet adorable brooch in only one evening. Help to develop your child's eye for design as she works to balance color, size, and shape. Heart charms make this an adorable Valentine's Day accessory, and you can offset the sweetness factor with a black and red color palette.

What You Need:

• Large safety pin
• Scissors
• Small charms, buttons and beads
• Thin ribbon, embroidery thread and latigo lace
• Ruler

What You Do:

1. Ask your child to choose beads, charms, and ribbon in contrasting or complementary colors.
2. Invite your child to figure out the order of the ribbons by choosing which would look nicest next to each other. There will be five ribbons strung onto the pin.
3. Instruct your child to measure five 5" lengths of the ribbon, thread, or lace.
4. Ask your child to fold one length of ribbon in half and push the folded end through the safety pin.
5. Have her poke the ribbon ends through the loop that she just made and pull the ribbon taut.
6. Encourage your child to thread buttons, charms, or beads of her choosing onto the ribbon.
7. Finally, ask your child to tie a knot in the end so the beads won't slip off. For visual interest, invite her to tie the knots at different levels so that the beads hang at different levels.