Easy DIY Faith Bracelets with Melted Perler Beads (+ Printable)

I’ve always enjoyed teaching preschoolers and elementary school-aged kids at Sunday School and Missionettes, at church. It’s always fun to hear things from their perspective and also very humbling to see the faith they have in believing God’s Word as is.

There are of course times when things can get quite imaginative. I remember the time I was teaching the 3-5 year olds the story of the 5 loaves and 2 fish. While doing a recap I asked the class to fill in the blanks.

The little boy gave Jesus 5 loaves and 2 _________

and a high pitched, little voice screamed back

Strawberries!!!

Oh well!

I’ve learnt that it’s always easy to get kids to remember verses and important lessons when you put things to song, enact the same or give them something visual. That’s why I love doing Faith Bracelets.

Easy DIY Faith Bracelets with Melted Perler Beads

These are such an easy craft to do with young kids and the colors on the bracelet are great reminders of their faith in Christ.

And best of all you only need a box of Perler Beads and a spool of 1 mm Stretch Magic Bead and Jewelry Cord.

While you can have the kids make their Faith Bracelets with the beads as they are, we personally like the way the bracelets look when you use melted beads.

1. Now before you go into melting the beads or stringing them as is, have the kids  separate the colors into bowls. (If time is a constraint, do this at home and separate the beads into zipped bags) This is a great way to get them to identify colors, work as a team and practice precision and care. (Impatient hands will result in beads flying all over the place so make sure you send out that warning beforehand.)

2. Now if you’re melting the beads while doing this craft at home, this is the time you will place the beads upright, on parchment paper, on a baking tray, with a 0.5-0.75 cm distance between each.

3. Heat your convection oven or toaster oven to 350 degrees. Once it reaches that temperature, place your tray in the same for about 7 minutes and remove the tray once you see your beads looking like the beads in the photograph below.

*Note: When Perler beads melt the room will smell. I cross-ventilated the kitchen and adjacent room before, during and after I melted the beads to ensure the smell didn’t linger in the kitchen too long.

4. To begin making the bracelets, measure around the wearer’s wrist approximately and cut the thread with about 1 inch extra on either side. Before you begin threading the beads, Tie a knot or even a double knot on one side to ensure the beads don’t roll out.

5. Now have the kids string the beads in this order: Black-Red-White-Blue-Green-Yellow

Each color is representative of something important in our faith journey. (Click the image to access the printable or this link.)

This bracelet is an easy way to remember what each color stands for in the journey of faith.

Kids as young as 3 and 4 will be able to share this with you.

For more great faith inspired craft ideas, check out the Family Christian Arts and Crafts board on Pinterest.