Make Treasure Strings

Every house has little trinkets or junk collected in some forgotten corner. Leftover buttons? Styrofoam pieces? You could throw them out... or you could use them to make some terrific treasure strings!

Make necklaces, bracelets, belts, or garlands with this simple and fun activity. Your child will recycle old objects, plus make some one-of-a-kind pieces of art to give or to wear!

What You Need:

• Scissors
• Heavy yarn
• Plastic needle
• Items for stringing (such as hole-punched paper cut-outs, sections of straws, spools, buttons, or Styrofoam pieces)

What to Do:

1. Cut a piece of yarn of any length. It's best to start with shorter pieces; if you want something longer, you can keep adding by tying another piece of yarn to the first.
2. Knot the far end of the yarn to keep the objects from sliding off. Sometimes it helps to know one item into the knot to form a barrier to help begin stringing. Young artists usually need help with threading yarn in the plastic needle and with knotting the end of the yarn. If the plastic needle won't go through some papers or items, an adult can make holes with a hole punch, a sharp pencil or scissor point.
3. String the objects onto the yarn one-by-one. You can use more than one object in a random or planned pattern; patterns are great practice for kindergartners! Shorter pieces can make bracelets, longer pieces can make necklaces, and even longer pieces can make garlands to decorate the windows or walls.