Craft Review: Family Fun Magazine's Make Plastic Beads

The April 2011 edition of Family Fun Magazine has several great ideas... and we tried another today. My oldest and I made plastic beads from an empty water bottle. It was sort of a trial run to see if this project would be a good idea to do with the girls that will come to her 7th Birthday Party next month... about 8 of them from ages 4 to 9.

Items needed for this project: clean and dry plastic bottles (with thin, smooth plastic), permanent markers (we used Sharpies), cotton string, foil-lined baking sheet, store-bought beads, clear beading cord.

• Using a craft knife, cut the top and bottom sections from the bottle. Family Fun says that two-liter bottles and many used for vitamin waters and sports drinks are difficult to cut and roll. Then use scissors to cut the remaining cylinder into a rectangle.

• Cut the rectangle into 1/2 to 3/4 inch wide strips. Because of ridges in my bottles, my strips were a little more narrow. The instructions didn't specify how long the strips should be. I cut mine down to about two inches long.

• Draw with permanent markers on the inside of the curves strips. It can rub off if done on the outside. Be creative with colors and patterns.

• Roll each strip around a pen or pencil and tie your string around the strip to hold it together. You'll need one person to hold the bead and one to tie the string around it. Place tied strips on a foil-lined baking sheet.

• To set the beads, bake them at 300 degrees until the edges begin to soften, about 2 to 5 minutes. I put them in my toaster oven for 3 minutes. To see if they're done, carefully take one bead out and slip off the string. If it stays rolled up, then they're ready. When they have cooled, slip off the string and trim the ruffled ends.

• Make a bracelet or necklace by alternating homemade beads with store-bought beads on a length of clear elastic beading cord.

We found this project to be pretty easy, and she's excited to do it with her friends at her birthday party. I know in advance that we will need the extra sets of hands from the parents who will be in attendance, but usually our parties are a full family event anyway, so there will be enough hands to help out.

We give this project two thumbs up!


"But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen." 2 Peter 3:18