Melted Beads Craft (Great for Kids)
Ready to get crafty?
If you’re looking for an easy craft to make this summer with the kids, try this fun melted beads craft. Get creative with different bead colors and shapes – create bowls, fun flower accessories and more. For safety reasons, be sure to supervise your children and make sure an adult is present to assist with placing beads in the oven.
For This Craft You’ll Need:
- Pony Beads (found at any craft store or amazon.com)
- Pam baking spray
- Baking tray covered in foil
- Oven safe bowl or cups
Directions:
- Cover a baking sheet with foil. Spray foil with a little nonstick spray.
- Make a shape with beads – I made a flag and flowers. Use a ruler to make lines straight if desired.
- Heat oven to 400 degrees. Bake for about 13 minutes. Keep a close eye on your creations as you don’t want them to burn. Let cool, then remove from foil.
Note: If making flowers, you can glue them to hair clips or blank rings as jewelry. If you poke a hole in them right out of the oven, you can use a safety pin to make a decorative pin or even make cute dangling wire earrings.
To make a bowl like the ones pictured above:
- Spray the area with nonstick spray and then made a circle on the foil with beads.
- Bake in the oven at 400 degrees until it melted (about 13 minutes) and then very carefully move baked creation to an upside down bowl covered with foil using oven mitts.
- Press it gently down so it molds to the bowl shape and then put it back in the oven for a minute or two. I also made a smaller bowl using a mason jar bottom as the mold.
What a fun and easy craft idea! Thanks to reader, Erin, for emailing the idea!
Lina (lina@hip2save.com) is an amazing content creator at Hip2Save! She loves cooking, thrift store shopping, and DIY projects.
My girls LOVE these. When they were younger, it kept them occupied for hours. Boys love them too…. Great to do while talking or semi-watching a TV program!
Just as a tip, it’s pretty much the same thing, but there are these crafts called perler beads. Only thing it’s meant for melting, and it turns out much better!
I used perler beads too. You use a special kind of paper and an iron. I have no idea what is safe to put in the oven and what isn’t. My friend was an art major and one of her instructors warned them about melting things in the oven. For example, all those crayon crafts. Apparently it’s pretty toxic.
Again, I’m not an expert! Just passing it along.
it’s really easy and I haven’t heard much bout that i know its very easy – just use wax paper and an iron and it’s done within a few seconds with no smell!
I was just about to say the same thing.
cute, but melting plastic sounds really stinky.
It makes a horrible stink in the house. I had to open all the windows. I would not recommend doing this with the windows closed.
That’s what I thought, but there was NO smell! I tried the grill first because of that but they didn’t melt that well on the grill and my wooden form burnt (and thus smelled like burnt meat)!
Pony beads melt fine on our grill. We make melted bead suncatchers this way. I would never do this in the house due to how toxic the fumes from melting plastic are.
We did this last summer and it stunk the whole house up. Then next time I did it on the grill. Heated it on med/high heat and put my baking pan right on the grill. Closed the lid and 10 min later they were done
Perler beads are very fun. Grab a big bucket of them for like $10, a couple of pairs of tweezers and let your kids get to work. A quick swipe with the iron and wax paper and you have a creation that doesn’t heat up your house.
But be careful with little kids doing it. My 3 yr old got one stuck high up in her nose. It took 4 adults to hold her down to get it out. Scary!!
I can’t believe your 3 year old was even remotely interested, let alone had the hand eye coordination to make something with perler beads and the board, impressive kiddo. Next time let the chaos wear down and then work on getting it out, it helps a lot. Adults stress and panic is mimicked by the kidlets.
I’ve heard you should not do this in your house because it’s toxic. Not sure if that’s true or not.
I was going to say that as well, Kimberly. I’ve done similar projects with my kids and we did them outside on the grill. The fumes are really strong and will give you an instant headache inside the house. Much better outside!
Set the fire alarms off on the adolescent unit where I work attempting to melt pony beads! Embarrassing as hek! We stick to perler beads now.
hmm looks fun but try to use a toaster oven outdoors the fumes are not good to inhale
I’m gonna turn of a few fans on,crack a window, and try it. It’s a small project and it’s only in the oven for 13 minutes or so. We are exposed to all kinds of things through out our days that we don’t even realize. The exposure to these fumes is minor. I’m gonna try to make some earrings out of the little flower shapes for my kids with some bright pink and white ones, thanks Lina!
I have only done this once, and had heard that it smelled. I did it on the porch in a toaster oven, and it worked great. The smell was extremely noxious, even outside. It dissipated quickly outside once the process was over, and we loved the product, but I would not do it in the house.