Popsicle Stick Bracelets

I feel like there are a few base craft items that anyone with kids should have hanging around their home. Popsicle sticks, foam, wiggle eyes, pipe cleaners, that kind of thing. You never know when the cold snap is going to hit, or when it’s going to decide to rain for a week, and it pays to have some simple crafts up your sleeve to pass the looooong days stuck inside.

This is one of those crafts. I’ve seen various versions of it bouncing around on Pinterest for some time, and decided to try my hand at it. It’s not complicated – just boil the sticks and then use a water glass to form them, but my son LOVED this one. He had a blast painting his bracelets, and then wearing them around and showing them off. He wanted me to take pictures, but he couldn’t hold his hand still enough, so I can’t show you his wonderful creations (They’re all sort of brown. He doesn’t understand about paint mixing yet). Guess you’ll have to be content with mine 🙂

Anyway, all you need for this craft is the larger sized popsicle sticks (mine are labeled jumbo), a water glass, water, and a pot.

Start by boiling the popsicle sticks for 10-15 minutes. You want them to get good and hot and waterlogged.

Then, lift them out with tongs or a fork and press them into a water glass. You can use different mugs or glasses to get different shapes. Mine was fairly open.

Now you let them dry. On their own, they can take from 4 hours to overnight, but you don’t have to wait that long if you own a hair dryer! You can blow them dry (about 15-20 minutes), or let your little help you. Other than the paint, this was Alex’s favorite part.

Once they’re dry, go ahead and decorate. You can use Sharpie, washi tape, or good old paint like we did.

Depending on the shape of your glass, your bracelet may fit like a glove, or it may try to fall off. If you’re having trouble with your bracelet staying on, you can cut a piece of string or elastic, poke holes in the stick, and tie the string across. Ours fit pretty well, so I don’t have any pictures of that, but you can see an example of that method here.

Happy decorating!