On our summer bucket list, which has now turned into our "project binder" One of everyone's favorites is playing with sculpey clay. This stuff is available almost everywhere. And I usually get mine on an online sale or at my local Michaels when it's on sale there. A little bit goes a long way for the kiddos. So it has lasted us a long time. I also use my coupons at Michaels to get some tools because we learned there really isn't a great substitue for those.
Today we are making our own beads to be strung into necklaces later. Note: Use a toothpick to create the hole for the beads to be strung later.
Once everyone is done, place them all in a glass pan and bake according to package directions. The younger one did not enjoy creating her own beads and rather created blobs. These needed to bake MUCH longer. I think it ended up being a few hours. I just checked them every 20 minutes or so.
Once they had cooled When Mom found some time several days later, we strung them into necklaces. I forgot to put holes into the blobs, so I ended up wrapping them with wire and putting them on that way. They've held up so far, but they are REALLY heavy and so she does not really like wearing the necklace. Lesson learned.
I always keep a few "fancy" beads on hand for things. She chose to alternate with round black beads and then clear faceted ones. She really enjoyed all aspects of this project. And of course we are already looking for more ideas of things the kids can make themselves with the clay.
