This sorting beads activity started with a giant bag of pony beads from the craft store. I liked that this bag included flower beads and animals beads. It is a perfect mix for sorting! Using a mini muffin tin, I told my girls “Sort these beads…however you would like!”
I gave them each a bowl of beads and they started with their own separate sorts. Some were by size, some were by color. Then they decided to work together and they used almost every cup in the muffin tin, creating new sorts and resorting existing piles. When they got stumped, I just asked…”Can you sort them another way?” They were very excited to come up with creative ways to sort the beads – this is why having animal beads worked really well!!
The next day (and many sorts later) we decided to string the beads into necklaces and bracelets. I used tape to secure the string to the table and then let them begin.
My younger daughter was really excited to make patterns. Below she created an AB pattern by stringing flower/butterfly/flower/butterfly.
We ended up with lots of fun jewelry to wear! These would be great gifts for the kids to include in a birthday card for their friends too. The best part is how many beads we have left to do this activity again!
Written by Anne