Make a Tassel Beaded Bracelet With Your Kiddo

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Making stretchy bracelets is a fun way to share your beading habit with the children and teens in your life. You can use almost any beads you have on hand, so it’s easy to pull a little party together. Plus, it’s interesting to see which treasures your kids choose, and your stretchy beaded bracelets will string up quickly. Adding a tassel kicks your beaded bracelet style up a notch.

How to Make a Stretchy Beaded Bracelet

Materials

• 4-8mm beads of your choice
• colorful tassel
• stretchy jewelry cord
• jeweler’s cement (if you have it) 
• ruler
• scissors

Setting the Stage for Beading with Kids

I’ve hosted many beaded bracelet parties—large and small—and they all start with lots of beads in bowls. Some bowls contain monochromatic beads that I have in abundance. Or, you can make colorful bead mixes using combinations of beads from your stash. It’s fun to do a mix of both and it gives the bracelet makers plenty of options for making their own customized creations.

Choose the largest diameter of cord that will fit through the smallest holes in your beads. This helps with durability, because it reduces abrasion inside the bead holes. If you have a variety of cord diameters on hand, by all means share it with the party and let everyone figure out which one works best for their beads.

Related: 3 Candy Jewelry Projects to Make and Eat

Making a Bracelet

If you have enough stretchy cord spools for everyone, you can string beads onto the cord while it’s still attached to the spool. Otherwise, cut a piece of stretchy cord that’s 4” longer than your desired bracelet length. Attach a BeadStopper or a small piece of tape to the end of the stretchy cord.

String beads and the tassel onto the stretchy cord.

Tie the cord in a surgeon’s knot, which is a square knot with an extra pass through the loop.

Add a drop of glue to the knot. Let the glue dry and then cut off any extra cord.

Color Meanings

If your child is a little older, it’s fun to talk about the psychology of color. Studies have shown that colors can impact people in a variety of ways and those ideas are used in everything from home decorating to advertising. Colors have different meanings in different cultures, too, which can affect how people respond to them.

Even without doing any color research, you can assign special meaning to your beaded bracelets by choosing beads and tassels that represent your wish for yourself or the people who’ll be receiving your bracelets. Here are some of my favorite color meanings:

• Red: Love
• Orange: Joy
• Yellow: Hope
• Green: Luck
• Turquoise: Clarity
• Blue: Calm
• Purple: Creativity
• Pink: Kindness
• White: Hope
• Black: Fortitude

Spread Joy

I hope you enjoy making these tassel bracelets with the special kiddo in your life.

If you get on a roll and make beaded bracelets for friends and family, so much the better! It’s an easy way to brighten someone’s day. As Maya Angelou wrote in Letter to my Daughter, “Try to be a rainbow in someone’s cloud.” Colorful stretchy tassel bracelets are fun to make, wear, and share.

Happy beading (with kids),
Katie Hacker, Beading + Jewelry Content Manager

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Originally published 5/18/2020. Updated 7/22/2022.

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