My kids are really into Perler beads again! Three-year-old Anna fills in our heart pegboard over and over (excellent fine motor skills practice!) while the three older kids create their own quick and easy designs. Today I am featuring a few of my favorites, starting with this cute white cat!
This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission. Learn more.
Quick and Easy Perler Bead Designs for Kids
Seven-year-old Johnny came up with the Yoda design above. Six-year-old Lily came up with the pink bunny below. It reminds me of her pink bunny Halloween costume!
My kids are always working on new people designs with their Perler beads! This new one that my seven-year-old came up with is my favorite:
Here are some earlier versions of people they made: 2014 Perler bead people (this is the model my son used to make the Yoda featured above) and 2012 Perler bead people.
Perler beads have two downsides: lots of tiny pieces (pre-ironing) and you have to iron them. My son saw a picture of Qixels somewhere and he thinks they look really cool – and they don’t need an iron! They remind me of Beados, which we were sent to review last year and my have enjoyed. I am excited to see craft kits that are designed with boys in mind – my son is consistently frustrated by the girly-ness of most craft kits. Have you tried them with your kids? What did you think?
The Educators’ Spin On It
Mama Smiles – Joyful Parenting
Relentlessly Fun, Deceptively Educational
Boy Mama Teacher Mama
Planet Smarty Pants
Creative Family Fun
The After School linky is a space to share learning and fun for children aged 5-12 years old. Here are my favorite posts from last week’s linky:
- Creative Math Art for Kindergarten from Highhill Education
- Mondrian Suncatcher Art from School Time Snippets
- Gratitude Journals from Creative Family Fun
Now it’s your turn to link up your top after school activities for kids aged 5-12! I pin and re-share favorites every week, and so do my wonderful co-hosts!
MaryAnne is a craft loving educator, musician, photographer, and writer who lives in Silicon Valley with her husband Mike and their four children.
I would agree most craft kits are designed with girls in mind. The few that aren’t are the “paint your own derby car” variety, and those also had very little interest to my boys. Of course they are all wanting to try painting models and miniatures right now, which is super detailed and time consuming work.
There are some great models that are geared towards boys.
I never had the patience for the Perler beads; I hated cleaning them up as they went everywhere. I let my kids do this at their friends’ house on playdates because I just could not deal. I wish I had the patience but that was the one thing that drove me crazy that I just could not deal with. :)
I love what your kids are making. Perler beads is one of the most popular crafts in our house!
Such cute creations!!!
Thanks! I love seeing what they come up with.