Secret Thread Zipper Bracelet
For ages 7 and up
Did you know that Discovery Gateway partners with Girl Scouts to offer online STEAM activities? This past week we learned how to make 4 friendship bracelets. Check out the fun girl scout activities you can do from home here https://www.girlscouts.org/en/girl-scouts-at-home/event-calendar.html
Friendship bracelets are a great activity for kids! They help them build up muscles in their hands and fingers (great for school activities like writing and using scissors) and build hand-eye coordination. Also by using a pattern to make a bracelet, kids practice math skills and prepare their brain for tasks like computer programming.
Best of all, you get a cool bracelet at the end of all your hard work! This bracelet has a secret color running through the middle of the pattern that never gets revealed. The secret color helps the bracelet stay strong, but only the colors on the outside make the pattern. See if your friends can guess what color is in the middle when you finish your bracelet.
Materials:
- 1-3 strands of embroidery thread for the middle. These threads should be 18-24 inches long each
- 2 different colored strands of embroidery thread for the outside. Also 18-24 inches long each
- Tape(optional)
Directions:
- Arrange threads so that the 2 different colors are on either side, and all the “secret” strands are in the middle. Group all the secret strands together
- Tie all the threads together at one end. This is the top of your bracelet
- Tape the knot on a flat surface (optional)
- Bring the thread on the left side over the secret threads, making a “4” shape
- Wrap the left thread around the secret threads and pull the end through the center of the “4”
- You now have a knot! Pull the knot to the left, and gently tug it up to the top of your bracelet. Keeping the knot on the left side
- Pull tight
- Take the knot on the right side and bring it across the secret threads, making a “D” shape
- Wrap the right thread around the secret threads and pull the end through the center of the “D”
- You now have a knot! Pull the knot to the right and gently tug it up, it will rest under the knot that you made on the left.
- Pull tight-keeping the knot on the right side
- Repeat steps 4 –11. Alternating sides and making sure that your knots stay on the edges
- When your bracelet is the desired length, tie off the end.
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