Let your personality shine with this fun activity! These bracelets are fun for anyone and everyone, but school-age children and adolescents will especially love this! You are able to make choices, explore your own individuality, and be able to express yourself and your emotions through the colours that you choose! This is such a fun craft to make for yourself, or with family and friends! Have fun and make it your own!
Supplies:
Yarn or embroidery floss of any colours
Paper plate
Something circular that you can trace (ex. A mug, a drinking glass, a piece of tupperware, etc.)
Scissors
Pencil or pen
Activity Steps:
Before we begin, make sure your workspace is clean and ready to go with all of your supplies placed on a flat surface. If you will need help cutting, make sure to have an adult nearby!
Step 1: Place your paper plate on the flat surface facing upwards (as if you were going to eat off of it!). Place your circular object in the center of the paper plate. I am using a mug, but you can use whatever you have!
Tip: If you don’t have a paper plate that is ok! You can use any other type of cardboard that you might have available, like a recycled cereal box or kleenex box!
Step 2: Now, we are going to trace around this circular shape. Press down on the top of your object being traced so that it remains steady. Using your writing utensil, trace all around the outside of your object. Once you have done this, remove your object and you should have a drawn circle in the middle of your paper plate!
Tip: If you don’t have a circular shape to trace, that is ok! You can just draw a circle by yourself—it doesn’t have to be perfect!
Step 3: Next we are going to cut out the circle that we have drawn. Use your scissors to cut into the flat part of the plate from one of the curved sides. Once you have done this, you can cut along the circle shape that you have drawn. If you need help cutting this out, ask an adult for help!
Step 4: Now that you have cut out your circle, we are going to poke a hole in the center. Using your writing utensil, draw a dot in the center of the circle. Then, push your pen or pencil down on the dot that you have drawn, so that it pokes through the circle. If you need help with this step, ask an adult for help!
Step 5: Next we are going to cut slots into the cardboard circle. To do this, use your pen or pencil to draw an X shape on your circle. Then, draw a + shape that goes through the X shape. Once you have done this, you will have 8 even sections (like pizza or pie slices!). Now, use your scissors to cut along these lines. Don’t cut all the way to the hole that you poked in the center, instead, use your scissors to cut just to about halfway on the line.
Tip: Once you have cut your slots, you can use your pen or pencil to number them 1–8. This is not required but might help you along the way!
Step 6: Now we are going to pick the colors for our bracelets! I chose to use red, orange, yellow, green, blue, pink, and purple—like a rainbow! You can choose any colors that you like! The bracelet is going to have 7 strands that get braided together. Do you want each of these to be different colors, or do you want to use certain colors for more than one strand? Totally up to you!
Step 7: Once you have chosen the colors that you want for your bracelet we are going to cut them into strands. Take the end of one of your yarn or embroidery floss colors and hold it in your hand. Then, use your other hand to stretch the yarn out. Stretch the yarn so that it reaches from one hand to the other when your arms are open wide. This is how long you want your strands to be! Once you have measured this out, use your scissors to cut the string. Repeat this for each of your seven colors/strands.
Tip: Once you have cut one strand, this can be used as your ruler or measuring tape! Lay it out on your surface and use this to measure the length for your other colors!
Step 8: Now that you have cut your seven pieces of string, gather them together so that the ends line up. Once you do this, tie the strands together using a knot. Loop the end around the strand, and then pull tight to make the knot, like you were tying a shoelace or a balloon! If you need help with this, ask an adult for help!
Step 9: Next, put this knot through the hole in the center of your cardboard circle. On the opposite side from the knot, add each of the strings to each of the slots in your circle. There are 7 strings, and 8 slots, so slot 8 will be empty for now! I arranged mine in the order of a rainbow—red, orange, yellow, green, blue, pink, purple—but yours might look different depending on the colors that you choose!
Tip: The lengths of the string will hang over the cardboard circle (almost like a jellyfish!). Try to make sure that these don’t get too tangled as you go!
Step 10: Now we are ready to start making our bracelets! We are going to be braiding or weaving the strings together with the help of our cardboard circles. Each time that you move a string it should “jump over” two other strings.
First, Take the BLUE string (slot #5), and “jump over” the PINK string (slot #6) and PURPLE string (slot #7), and put the BLUE string in the empty slot.
Next, take the ORANGE string (slot #2) and jump over the YELLOW string (slot #3) and the GREEN string (slot #4) and move to the empty space.
Next, take the PURPLE string (slot #7) and jump over the BLUE string (slot #8) and the RED string (slot #1), and put the PURPLE string in the empty space.
Next, take the GREEN string (slot #4) and jump over the ORANGE string (slot #5) and the PINK string (slot #6) and put the GREEN string in the empty space.
Next, take the RED string (slot #1) and jump over the PURPLE string (slot #2) and the YELLOW string (slot #3), and put the RED string in the empty space.
Next, take the PINK string (slot #6) and jump over the GREEN string (slot #7) and the BLUE string (slot #8) and put the PINK string in the empty space.
Then, take the YELLOW string (slot #3) and jump over the RED string (slot #4) and the ORANGE string (slot #5) and move the YELLOW string to the empty space.
Finally, take the BLUE string (slot #8) and jump over the PINK string (slot #1) and the PURPLE string (slot #2) and move the BLUE string to the empty space.
Tip: Even if you did not use the same colours as I did, the steps are all the same! Follow along with your whichever colors you chose for your own bracelet!
Step 11: Now you are back where you started! Repeat these steps and continue with this pattern. As you do, your bracelet will start to take shape and come out of the hole in the center. Now you can continue with this braiding pattern until your bracelet is the length that you want!
Step 12: Once you are happy with the length of your bracelet, remove it from the cardboard circle. Then tie a knot in the end that you just finished. Use your scissors to cut off any excess string.
Step 13: Finally, tie the two ends together and you have your bracelet! Now you get to show off your hard work and your favourite colors!
Tip: This same process can be used to make so many other things by just changing up the length! You can make bracelets, anklets, necklaces, bookmarks, keychains and so much more! See where your imagination can take you.
~Made by Wren