Elastic Painting Birthday Garland

A delightfully fun process to create a handmade birthday garland for a party or a friend!

Materials

Directions

• Paint
• Wooden flags or print these ones ( flags ) out on cardstock (you will need scissors to cut them out and a hole punch as well)
• Twine
• Paint brushes
• Old casserole dish (we used glass for photography purposes, but we recommend metal for safety reasons!)
• Elastics
• Needle (*optional for threading your garland)

Painted Beads (*Optional)

• Wooden beads
• Acrylic paint
• Floral foam
• BBQ skewers
• Pony beads

OR

Purchase pre-painted wooden beads!

Craft Tray & Smock

We always find these items helpful as well!

Directions

Step 1: Painting your Beads

• Have an adult cut off the sharp points off of the BBQ skewers.

• Put a pony bead at the bottom of your skewer.  This will hold your beads in place and prevent them from sliding down when you paint them.

• “String” your beads onto your skewer.

• Insert your skewer into your craft foam.

• Don your smock.

• Paint your beads.  We find it helpful to hold the skewer with one hand at the top while you paint with the other.

• Paint as many colours as you would like for your garland.

• Allow to dry overnight.

Step 2: Painting Your Flags

• Carefully put your elastics around your casserole dish (be sure to clear this with an adult and use an old one).  We used a glass one so you could see the results better in the photographs, however, with small children you may want to use metal instead for safety reasons.

• Slide your flags/pendents under the elastics as shown.

• Paint the elastics.

• Carefully pull up your elastic band a bit and then let it snap down, splatter painting your pendents.

• Repeat this process with as many colours as you would like.

• We then had an adult carefully slide the pendents out and place them on a craft tray to dry overnight so we could wash the tray immediately.

• Once dry, lace your beads and your pendents/flags onto your cord, twine etc.

• Hang your beautiful, colourful banner!

Purpose

• Exploring various painting techniques
• Developing fine motor skills (cutting, lacing, etc.)

Safety Notes

• Use scissors, needles and elastics with care & supervision.
• Cord, twine etc. can be a strangulation hazard therefore it should be used with adult supervision and for the intended purpose.
• Beads can be a choking hazard and should be kept out of reach from those ages 0-3 years or those that tend to put things into their mouths.