Kid's Crafts: Jewelry Making

Jewelry making can be a fun family activity that allows kids to express themselves through their own creations. Making jewelry is a great hobby for kids because it allows them to "dress up" and also to have hand made gifts to give their loved ones and friends.

It also has many educational benefits. (Shhhhh! Keep this quiet and just let them think they are having fun!) The keys to success are knowledge of the child's developmental skills, organization of the materials and lots of praise and adoration for their work.

Tips:

Use bead boxes or even egg cartons to store and sort beads. Having them in bags makes them hard to retrieve and likely to get spilled.

Also, always give your child an edged tray to work on to keep beads from rolling or getting scattered. When one hundred beads roll across the floor, jewelry making goes from friend to foe.

Preschoolers:

For preschoolers, who are learning to master fine motor skills, use "shoe string" type thread that is easy to hold and manipulate and large-holed beads. Many pasta noodles will even work as beads. They can be put into a plastic bag and your child can sprinkle in a few drops of food coloring, close the bag and "squish" them around. Allow the noodles to dry on a paper towel for a couple of hours and you'll be almost ready to begin. For all ages working with beads, but especially preschoolers, don't forget the edged tray!

Allow preschoolers to make their creations "frees style" with out pattern. Skills such as counting and naming shapes and colors can be reinforced subtly while you're both working. Adults can help by "modeling" the task while making their own necklaces, but allow preschoolers to do their own thing unless they ask for help. Also, this age group can have quick gratification. They are usually happy with just a few beads.

Primary Age Kids:

Primary grade children can use lighter threads and smaller beads. You may want to encourage kids five to nine to draw out their pattern on a piece of paper or line the beads up in the order they want them to appear. My five year old had a tendency to always put her favorite bead on first and was then disappointed when it ended up at the top instead of the center. As you can see, beading allows for the use of lots of planning and problem solving skills as well as creativity.

Beading exercises the fine motor and hand-eye coordination skills kids need as they learn to write and manipulate other tools. Creating patterns with beading reinforces the pattern skills needed in reading and especially math. Encourage kids to try out lengths of necklaces and measure and record the lengths for themselves, friends or family. Here's hands-on math with built-in motivations. Parents and teachers can also incorporate jewelry making into history or social studies lessons by having kids research about materials and styles in various places or times.

Tweens & Teens:

Older kids should be involved in purchasing their beads and supplies that reflect their interest and style. Craft stores have great varieties that will entice all personalities. Older kids will also have the motor skills to try many make-your-bead methods such as rolled paper and clay beads. This age can also figure out cost per necklace by dividing cost for supplies. Yes, jewelry making can be used for money math lessons too.

Jewelry making reinforces the good habit of completing a project. While this age group may not need your help, working alongside these tweens and teens will give you a great chance to just talk and connect.

Rave Reviews:

Lavish on the praise for both their completion of a beading product as well as their creativity.

Take photographs of kids wearing their latest creations and show them off.

Display their jewelry on cake stands or special dishes when you have visitors. Let kids make a "made by" and "title" card.

The greatest compliment is to wear their jewelry gifts and always care for their jewelry creations as you would your favorites.

When my daughter was four-year olds she made me a necklace once from a pink ribbon and a BIG spring coil. It hangs alongside my other jewelry and yes, on given days, I take it out and wear it, along with a BIG smile.

Share your jewelry making experiences in the comments section. What other ways can jewelry making be used to develop skills and build concepts in various areas of curriculum?