These 3 easy pony bead crafts and patterns for kids are red white and blue in celebration of patriotic holidays. Older kids can easily help with these pony beads crafts to make Fourth of July melted pony bead décor for your own Independence Day celebrations. They will love being involved in these pony beads crafts and the decorating process and melted pony beads are fun for crafting with kids.
Easy Pony Bead Crafts for Kids
We thought it would be fun to do some red white and blue melted pony bead crafts today in honor of upcoming holidays.
Related: Perler bead ideas for kids
Pony beads are great and are traditionally used to make jewelry, but you could also make something unique like our pony bead abacus or a beaded suncatcher.
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4th of July Melted Pony Bead Crafts for Kids
We made 5 different pony bead crafts using red, white and blue beads – use the click on the project to jump to that section of this article:
Each craft is a little different using pony beads, but in general this is what you will need to make these fun and festive red, white and blue crafts.
Supplies Needed for Pony Bead Crafts
- Red pony beads
- White pony beads
- Blue pony beads
- Melting pan: bread pan or muffin tin
- (Optional) Glue gun & glue
What pan is best for melting pony beads?
I used a bread pan as the guide for making our flag. The size of mine, 3 1/2 x 7 1/2 inches, which was the perfect height for fitting in all of the stripes. I used a non-stick pan, but I’ve read that pony beads will pop out of other pans. I had no problems, but if you are worried, go to a thrift store and buy a cheap version.
Also, if you don’t have the right size, don’t worry. You can still create the look if you create it in a corner of another pan and prevent jostling as it moves to the grill to cook.
Pony Bead American Flag Craft
Kids will really enjoy making this melted pony bead American Flag.
Step 1
The kids simply pick out all of the red, white and blue beads. They line them up to create the flag. Little kids may need a little help to get the beads in there straight, but my 3 and 5 year old worked with me to make this flag, and they did just fine. I just would come along and straighten things up every once in a while.
Step 2
I chose to melt my beads on an outdoor grill to prevent getting fumes into my home.
There is a slight odor of burned plastic as they are cooking, but I know other bloggers have melted these in the oven and just left the door open to ventilate.
Kids can also be playing outside while the beads melt and the house airs out.
I cooked these at 400 degrees for 7 minutes. I would start checking after 5 minutes.
Using Finished Pony Bead American Flag Craft as 4th of July Decor
This American flag can be made in a variety of sizes and used to decorate in a variety of ways. I hot glued it to a mason jar filled with flowers. Here are some other ideas:
- You could make a number of them and create a cute hanging flag garland.
- You could make some for decorating a food table.
- You could use a white paint pen to write names in the blue to use as place name markers on plates.
- The kids could just put them on a bookshelf in their room too.
The American flag crafts turned out so cool!
Melted Pony Bead Patriotic Discs Craft
The other thing we made with melted pony beads were these red, white and blue discs we ended up using for a variety of purposes.
Step 1 – Make the Red White and Blue Discs
All you do is fill a mini-muffin tin with the pony beads and cook in the grill (or oven…just beware of fumes) for 3-5 minutes on 400 degrees.
They melt together and create plastic discs that look a lot like poker chips.
Step 2 – Choose What Craft To Use the Discs
Then we used these red white and blue melted bead discs for the next two 4th of July crafts…
How to Make Fourth of July Napkin Rings
Our 4th of July napkin rings are made from the red white and blue plastic discs. What a fun way to decorate a table or have stacked up for the food table.
Steps to Make Napkin Rings
Step 1
Make pony bead discs
Step 2
Create a loop from hemp, ribbon or some other strong string
Step 3
Attach loop to colorful discs with hot glue
Fourth of July Garland Craft Made from Pony Beads
The melted pony bead discs will also make this DIY 4th of July garland.
Step 1
Make red white and blue pony bead discs
Step 2
Hot glue the patriotic plastic discs to yarn, hemp or ribbon to create these fun decorations.
Step 3
I used a little bit of tape to make sure the garland displayed how I wanted.
Garland Decoration Ideas
Wouldn’t these look really cool as the decorations for your food table? Just lay down a white table cloth and string these along the front.
DIY Fourth of July Hair Clip Made from Pony Beads
Why not use these discs to give the kids some accessories too? One idea was to create a hair clip.
- Make a red white and blue plastic disc from pony beads.
- Hot glue the patriotic disk onto a hair clip for this cute look.
Fourth of July Necklace Craft From Melted Pony Beads
My other daughter thought it would be fun to create a necklace.
Step 1
Make red white and blue melted pony bead discs.
Step 2
Hot glued the discs onto some yarn to make a red white and blue necklace.
More 4th of July Crafts from Kids Activities Blog
You now have some great decorating ideas to do with melted pony beads for this Fourth of July.
…And here are some even more crafts to do when bored!
How did your 4th of July melted pony bead crafts turn out? What did you make?
