How to Make Friendship Bracelets

This summer I’ve been sharing some fun summery crafts for kids, and while I already shared a couple of friendship bracelet patterns, there are so many out there it’s worth another look.

Bracelets are a great craft for kids because they aren’t that difficult to make but they do take some time, there are lots of possible variations and the supplies tend to be inexpensive and you don’t need a lot.

In my research on making friendship bracelets, I found that some of the easiest ones are known as the Chinese ladder (no idea why), candy stripe and chevron.

You can also call the Chinese ladder a spiral bracelet, as that’s what it looks like when you’re finished. Melanie from Artzy Creations shares a pattern for this one at Design Dazzle. She uses five colors but once you have it down you can use as many or as few as you like.

The candy stripe in three colors I think is the only kind of friendship bracelet I ever knew how to make. Sarah Maker has a good tutorial for this one using four colors.

Chevron is probably my favorite because it looks fancy and makes a nice wide bracelet. You need two strands of each color you are using so it gets big fast, but is also a lot of fun to make. There’s a photo and video tutorial at The Neon Tea Party to get you started. (Here’s another video from Simple DIYs.)

Of course these three basic patterns are just scratching the surface of what you can do with friendship bracelets.

This simple twisted bracelet from Twitchetts is great for younger kids who might not have the dexterity or patience for all of that knot tying. You can also make them with thread or yarn, and add beads if you like. Or try this one from Panda Hall, which is just made with braided pieces tied together. I love the addition of charms to this one.

Make a fun fishtail bracelet with this video from SoCraftastic. If you need more ideas, check out the designs at Marching North and Red Ted Art. Do you have a favorite friendship bracelet pattern? I’d love to hear about it!

I did a post earlier this year with activities and ideas for teaching the alphabet, but a lot or learning letters and recognizing them just has to do with seeing them and working with them a lot.

That means coloring, tracing, identifying things that start with different letters and more.

One way to reinforce the letters is through little activity books like these cute printable alphabet books from Life Over Cs.

These are available for free when you subscribe to her newsletter, and I’d say that’s well worth it if you have a little one (or a group of little ones!) working on the alphabet and letter recognition.

Each mini book includes a collection of things that start with that letter to color, color and read with words that start with the letter, tracing the letter, finding the letter in a grid and other coloring pages with objects that start with that letter.

These little books are super useful reinforcing the different letters and giving kids different activities related to the letters.

If you do a letter of the day or letter of the week you can use a new book for each one, and then keep the copies in your reading center or in a basket where kids can look at them again.

And of course you can add in all the other letter activities you like, go on a scavenger hunt for items that start with that letter, read alphabet books, practice writing letters in rice or with pompoms or playdough or whatever sensory activities you like.

You can grab the free printables when you enter you email address at Life Over Cs, and check out her other great alphabet resources and activities while you are over there.

Do you have favorite activities for teaching letters to kids? I’d love to hear about them!

[Photo: Life Over Cs]

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