Beads and Kids

Things have been very interesting around here the past few days. My daughter just turned 7 and we had a slumber party for her this weekend. One of the activities we was making simple memory wire necklaces. Here are our supplies.

The girls had a lot of fun and took some time to put their designs together. Here are the finished projects.

Each girl had her own design and it didn't seem like anyone was trying to "copy" the others. It was lots of fun for them and they really enjoyed it. It seems like not enough children get exposed to being creative. We have computers, video games, and TV's that suck them in. It is really nice to see kids willing to sit a spell and just make something with no external stimulus. All I did for this project was provide the beads and finish the ends - the girls did the rest.

You can do any number of beading projects with kids for little money. Hobby Lobby and Michaels both have frequent coupons and Hobby Lobby has inexpensive beads frequently discounted every week. You can use wire, shoelaces, fishing line, yarn or actual beading string! Be creative - Let the kids be creative and you will have lots of fun!

Looking around I see that everyone has a way they view their life, well... I can tell you all about the different stages of my life by the beads that were and are part of it. As a young person - It was all about the plastic beads -those fantastic bags of mixed beads that are a treasure trove. Then as a young teen - specific plastic beads -I was very fond of the fancy faceted drops. Then I discovered glass beads! I still have beads in my collection from a trip I took to northern NM (Santa Fe maybe...) It took me almost 20 years to come up with a good design to use them in. In my 20's I discovered lampwork beads, then polymer clay, crystal and now PMC and Felt beads. My current projects include hand cast pewter charms, felted beads, swarovski and even trying to make my own polymer art beads.

Thanks for joining me on this journey and I hope to share with you - and learn from you too.

Laurie