Speaking of snowflakes, look at these sparkling snowflake ornaments. I make them with my students every year. Once year, for my Christmas workshop, I read the picture book Silver Packages by Cynthia Rylant. It's such a lovely story, I hope all of you look it up! After I read the story, we wrapped our ornaments in silver boxes just like in the story. That was two years ago and my students still remember. This year I made these with the preschoolers. You may have to order beads online. I find most craft stores have a very limited selection. I search Westrim crafts, tri beads, or paddlewheel beads. Sparkling chenille stems are great for beaded ornaments. For the snowflakes, I took three stems of equal length and twisted them together in the center so that there are six rays. The students can choose any bead they want as long as the put one on each of the rays. The beads have to be equally spaced from the center. I thought I made up this craft, but I found another great version of it on Kaboose crafts. This blog isn't usually about crafts, but I just love these!
I made these up when I was just a kid. I would spend hours playing around with chenille stems (then called pipe cleaners!) and beads. I love leaving it open ended and giving the students a chance to make up their own projects. Just a package of chenille stems can keep kids busy and stretch their creativity.
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