Jewelry-Making Fun with Hands-On Projects

Who’s ready for some jewelry-making fun? These DIY Jewelry projects will keep your kids busy while also giving them a creative outlet. And best of all, most of these projects use recycled materials to create the jewelry, so you can rest easy knowing you probably have the resources on hand. Let’s make some jewelry!

DIY Jewelry Materials

First, gather the kids and help them make beads out of air-dry clay or salt dough. These beads can be the main material for multiple jewelry making projects. The beads can be square, round, or any other shape! It’s a fun activity that even your younger kids can do.

Consider helping your kids make interesting textures on the clay before it dries. Try using combs with teeth or butter knives to create lines and designs. Use a wooden skewer to create a hole in the beads and allow them to dry overnight. Now your kids can paint their clay beads and use them for DIY jewelry creations.

Your older kids will love learning the art of millefiori, which is a traditional glass-working technique. Using oven-bake clay, follow this tutorial with plenty of pictures to roll together the clay to make beautiful intricate patterns.

DIY Jewelry Fun with Bracelets

Looking for a fun party favor to make for your next birthday bash? These Balloon Bracelets are easy enough for 3-8 year olds to make! Plus, they’re so colorful and cute. All you need are the long balloons used to make animal balloons and some elastic string. Using this technique, your kids can create this DIY jewelry in a few short minutes.

How about the classic pasta DIY jewelry? Just use Kool-Aid to dye your pasta and you’re ready to go! Your younger kids can even make a sorting activity out of splitting the beads by color and type.

Then, using pipe cleaners, your kids can create their own DIY bracelets. This activity is great for building those fine motor skills.

What if you could help your kids create fun paper bracelets out of colorful candy or gum wrappers? In this Origami Paper Bracelet tutorial, you’ll learn how to recycle paper (or use patterned origami paper) to create DIY jewelry. Again, your kids will get to exercise their fine motor skills by practicing some folding techniques to create a paper chain. Create a pile of folded paper and then keep adding to the chain to create a woven effect. Before long, you’ll have enough to create a bracelet – or keep going and make an origami necklace!

Recycled Necklace Ideas

Finally, here are some DIY jewelry projects to try that result in unique necklace designs. Do you continually find plastic bread tags on the kitchen counter after your kids open a new load of bread? Put them to good use with this Bread Tag Charm Necklace. First, have your kids paint designs on the charms with acrylic paint. Then, once they’re dry, clip the tags onto a thick piece of cording.

Paper Bead Necklaces are another great recycled jewelry idea. But sometimes it’s hard for little hands to make tiny paper beads. In this tutorial, your toddlers can create larger versions using paper and a wooden spoon for the twirling part.

And last but not least, try out this creative Animal Button Necklace project for some hands-on fun. Grab the button jar, some blue, markers, paper, and string, and then add in a dash of creativity. Your kids will love creating cute animal faces with 3D eyes, ears, and noses! Get ready to have a bunch of necklaces to share with friends.

 

Which project will you try with your kids? These are great boredom busters. For more creative and hands-on projects, check out these posts:

• Creative Jewelry Design Projects from KiwiCo
• Chalkboard Necklace
• Painted Wooden Bead Necklace
• Bubble Necklace
• Pom-Pom Necklace