Earth Day Eco Bead Bracelet Craft

We love to make recycled crafts all year round. Saving something from the bin and making something new and creative is always fun, but with Earth Day taking place in April this is an even better time to step up your junkmodelling, recycling and upcycling! We made these recycled eco bead bracelets using supplies from an Interplay UK craft kit, and a selection of old art work that had been made by the kids. I love how they came out.

This Earth day bracelet is made using glazed paper beads, along with some other small coloured beads to add a bit more sparkle. The Interplay Eco Bead craft kit gives you everything that you need to make these bracelets, and lots more upcycled paper bead jewellery too including necklaces and earrings.

The box includes a really handy easy roll tool that makes it easier for children to roll up their beads. This can be used as many times as you like, so once you have finished making all of the jewellery for this kit, you can keep the tool for the future. The set also includes all the basics that you will need like glue and glitter, along with string, wire, decorative beads and jewellery fastening hooks and loops.

The aim is to recycle old paper that you have around the house, so you will need to provide these yourself. It’s more fun (and more eco friendly) to use your own though to make your jewellery more personal.

For our bracelets we used old art work that the kids had made. I have one who is always very reluctant to throw away any of their old art work, so using them again to make something else is a great way around this!

We had some old bubble painting pictures with lots of blues and greens in them, which I thought were perfect for an Earth day theme, just like the colours on the globe. I love this colour combination!

You could also pages of an old magazine to make bright and colourful beads, or newspaper for a cool black and white effect. The combinations are endless. Making the jewellery with up cycled kids artwork is my favourite though since it creates such a personalised end result.

(To see the bubble paints that we used for this artwork, read this post)

To make the beads, you need to cut the artwork into strips, and templates are provided in the pack.

Then use the handy tool to roll each bead, adding glue to stick it together and then using more glue on the outside to glaze.

Se the beads to dry on the foam board that’s provided, held upright by toothpicks.

Once they are dry, you may need to use a toothpick to gently open up the hole in the middle a bit more, and then thread them onto your string or wire, along with some of the small “seed” beads if you like.

And ta-da.. you have your bracelet!

You can buy the Interplay Eco bead kit from Amazon and other good toy shops. The kit is recommended for age 8+ and I would say that is about right for a child to make this jewellery independently, but slightly younger children will be able to help with rolling the beads and giving ideas for the designs.