Learning the Flags with Perler Beads

My niece and I wanted to make a craft with perler beads (available here*). We spoke about foreign countries and their flags, and so we combined both topics and made this cool bracelet with flag charms. It’s easy, it’s fast and we learned stuff! 🙂

perler beads are fun! They are perfect to train motor skills and they are a great antidote against boredom when the wheater is crappy outside. When the kids are playing around with perler beads, I always make something too. So it’s fun for “older kids” as well. 🙂

If the kids ask me stuff and I don’t know the answer to their question, or I’m just not sure.. we always do research on the internet together! This time we talked about other countries and their flags. I know many of them, but others I have no clue. We looked up flags from countries my niece had already visited, or heard about because there is a big sports event going on. 

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We crafted every flag with perler beads and talked about the respecting country. You really memorize stuff so much easier like that. Most flags are pretty simple. Some flags are harder because the pattern is more complicated. So it’s not only training your motor skills, you automaticly train your imaginative power too. My niece had to think about how big the flags should be, and how she should place the perler beads to illustrate the pattern correctly.

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I’m guessing everyone knows how to use perler beads (available here*): You place the beads on pegboards (available here*) in various patterns and iron them. The beads melt and stick together, and you can take them off the pegboard.

I use an old traveling iron without steam for that sort of craft. You place a piece of parchment paper over the beads and run the heated iron in a slow circular motion on the beads. The beads will soon start to melt and stick together. You can see that through the parchment paper. Now remove the paper and let the perler beads cool down a little.

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If the beads are cool, you can remove them easily. If they still stick to the pegboard, just try to loosen them gently from each side.

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My niece wanted a little charm bracelet with flags. I put little jump rings (available here*) in the charms and my niece put them on a waxed cotton cord (available here*) . It’s a few days later and she still can name all the flags. 🙂

 

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