Fireflies and Family: bead

In all of the excitement of enjoying our "big girl" holiday crafts and decorating, we can't forget that the kids are ready to get crafty, too!

Here's a simple pony bead craft that my Brownie troop made as "backpack bling." And are those girls ever all about adding decorative, dangly things to their backpacks!

Here's what you need to begin:

18" piece of lanyard

5 white pony beads

15 orange pony beads

6 yellow pony beads

(no needles required, hurray!)

Start by stringing 2 white beads, and bringing them
to the center of your piece of lanyard.

Pull one end through the beads in the direction you originally beaded them, making a little loop that circles the beads.

String three more white beads, and pull a lanyard end through these three in the same manner as before, catching them in a loop.

Add four orange beads, and repeat the process.

NOTE: I found that pulling these loops too tightly will make our end product curl, rather than lay flat. Just lightly tighten each loop, and adjust as you go along.

O.K., now....five more orange beads...same song, next verse.

By now, the kids are on a roll!

Now the last 6 orange beads...

And the yellow beads are the icing on the cake, or...er, the topping on the candy corn.

When you have finished looping back through the yellows, "hop" over one bead, and loop back through again. This will make both of your lanyard ends finish on the same side. Double knot it, and pull tight. My Girl Scouts tied a loop keyring on the end to use in attaching their creations to their backpacks.