 | All of the directions on making the beads are found in the Bead
Clay or Paper
Bead making sections -- follow those depending on which type of beads
you're making
 | clay beads: you can premake the beads for the children and just
let them paint them. That way, you won't have to wait 48 hours for
the bead clay to dry -- if you want to be finished in one sitting, use
acrylic paint for decorating (wear paint smocks!) as it will dry in 15
to 20 minutes |
| paper beads: these are easily finished in one sitting if you use
glue sticks to put them together -- white glue can take a little longer
to dry if the kids get carried away squeezing it on.
|
|
| Have each child make 1 bead per person in the group (the children should
end up making about a dozen beads each -- no more than 20 or they'll get
bored)
|
| Once the beads are dry have each child fill their plastic container with
the beads they made
|
| All of the children should sit in a circle and then one at a time, have
them walk around handing a bead to each of the other kids (who place those
in their ziploc bag)
| as the children are handing out their beads, you can have them say
"this bead is for my friend <name>" (a good
way to learn names)
OR |
| "<name> is my friend because..." (I like
it when we play together, he has a nice smile, etc) -- this is harder so
use it if the children know each other quite well
|
|
| After all of the margarine containers are empty and all of the ziploc bags
are full (ie: after all the kids have distributed their creations to
their friends), thread the beads onto the string
|
| tie a knot (may need adult assistance)
|
| Proudly wear your friendship necklace
|
| Optional: you can thread a name tag onto the middle of it (poke a
hole in a laminated paper name tag and tie it on with a short piece of
string) to make a name tag the kids can wear each week |
