My girls love stringing beads. They make necklaces, bracelets and whatever else they come up with all the time. For Christmas we decided to make some new and easy candy cane ornaments for our Christmas tree. They can also be used as bracelets. I’ll show you both ways to make them!
GET A FULL WEEK OF CHRISTMAS THEME ACTIVITIES IN OUR PRINTABLE PRESCHOOL CHRISTMAS LESSON PLANS.
We started with red and white chenille stems and red and white pony beads. Mix up the beads here and you can easily incorporate some basic early math skills, sorting and matching colors. The girls sorted the beads by color as they matched the colors to the correct stem. We left about half an inch at the end of each stem when we were making the candy canes.
(Note: If you are making bracelets instead you will want to shorten the stems a bit so the bracelets will not be too big for little hands. I’d suggest making them an inch to two inches larger than the child’s write to allow room for twisting.)
Then we twisted two of the free ends together tightly to secure the strands together. Next we wrapped the two stems to look like a candy cane. We secured the opposite ends by twisting them, too. Note that there is some extra stem hanging off. I left that there so we could use it to secure the ends for the bracelet.
Once the ends are secured form the stems into a candy cane shape. Tuck in any loose stems at the ends, and you’ve got a quick and easy ornament to hang on the tree!
If you are making bracelets, use the extra part at the tips to twist the ends of the bracelet together.
If the bracelet or ornament starts to untwist, it’s easy to twist it back together. Have fun!
More Candy Cane Fun
GET A FULL SET OF CHRISTMAS THEME ACTIVITIES
The 169-page Christmas Lesson Plan Set includes hands-on activities and these additional printables:
1) Beginning Letters Gift Sorting Game (in color and b/w)
2) Reindeer Math Mats (2 versions in color and b/w)
3) My Christmas Senses Activity Book Making Pieces
4) 0-35 Christmas Number Cards (2 versions in color and b/w)
5) Christmas Counting Syllables Sorting Game (in color and b/w)
6) Christmas Picture-Word Cards (in color and b/w)
7) Ornament Play Dough Mats
8) Candy Cane Play Dough Writing Task Cards (shapes, uppercase letters, lowercase letters, number 0-20)
9) Christmas Light Patterns Activity Pieces (in color and b/w)
Also available on Teachers Pay Teachers.
Vanessa
I loved doing this project with my kids! It was so simple and the kids loved making the candy canes and turning them into bracelets. I am a kindergarten teacher and when we did this project, some of my students wanted to make a pattern with the beads. So for some of them instead of having one red string of beads and one white, they made two strands of alternating red and white beads and put them together that way. Either way, it was an easy and festive activity and a fun way to give my kids practice with color identification and patterning skills
Shaunna
That’s wonderful to hear, Vanessa!
Vanessa
I loved doing this project with my kids! It’s so simple and the kids loved making them and turning them into bracelets. I am a kindergarten teacher and when we did this project, some of my students wanted to make a pattern with the beads. So for some of them instead of having one red string of beads and one white, they made two strands of alternating red and white beads and put them together that way. Either way, it was an easy and festive activity a fun way to give my kids practice with color identification and patterning skills!
Shaunna
Thanks, Vanessa, for sharing your experience with this fun Christmas craft!