Apple Beading

My toddler has been especially into beading lately which made this sweet Apple Beading craft all the more enjoyable! It’s a super simple premise and setup and allows for lots of fine motor practice. And ends with a beautiful Rosh Hashanah decoration! The kindergartener and third grader also took part, sometimes working side by side. It was such a lovely family made Rosh Hashanah craft that we all enjoyed!

What You’ll Need

6 pipe cleaners in either red, green or yellow
Matching colored pony beads
Brown pipe cleaner
Green pipe cleaner
Scissors

Putting It Together

Take your two of your six pipe cleaners and fold them over each other to make a cross. Repeat with the other four pipe cleaners to make a star shape.
Invite your child to add the colored pony beads to each spoke of the star. Make sure they stop about one-two inches from the end.
Once all spokes are beaded, twist the non-beaded ends together. You might need to remove a strand from the group and twist it around the others.
Take the brown pipe cleaner and twist it around the gathered ends to make a stem.
Cut about a three inch piece of green pipe cleaner and fold into a leaf shape; attach to the brown stem.
Push and shape the beaded pipe cleaners so they round from the top and look like an apple.
Display and enjoy!

Finished & Loving It!

My toddler was so excited as soon as he saw the beads and pipe cleaners come out! While I made the pipe cleaner star, he was all about doing the beading himself. I love how interested he is in this activity especially since it’s such an amazing one for practicing his fine motor skills and further developing his pincher grasp!

I set up this activity on a tray which made it super easy to bring out and have the kids do a little work, then take a break when they needed one. This allowed them to enjoy the entire process and not feel overwhelmed by the need to finish it in one seating. We worked on it throughout the weekend, with sometimes one child and sometimes more than one, whatever worked at that time. Keeping activities low pressure and fun are always one of my goals!

Why do most of my apple activities have red, yellow and green apples? First, to remind the kids there are different types of apples. (Side note: doing an apple tasting and graphing activity is such a fun way to explore this!). Second, to explore different colors. This is a great opportunity to include color identification and matching discussion or even activities with your kiddos. And lastly, I have kids with speech articulation delays so providing multiple colored items in our activities is a simple and fun way to practice saying the color names.

In addition to being a fan of the process, I totally love the final result. The apples are cute and definitely make us feel the Rosh Hashanah love and the wishes for a sweet, new year!