Are you feeling the pressure to come up with activities to keep the kids busy this summer? These DIY oven baked clay beads are a terrific summertime boredom buster, and is the perfect activity for a hot day when you want to stay indoors. The days have been scorching hot here in Florida, so my daughter and I have been doing a lot of crafts since school let out.
We made these homemade beads one afternoon when my nieces were over.
How to Make Oven Baked Clay Beads
Make a simple dough from basic kitchen ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup salt
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
3/4 – 1 cup hot water
In a medium-size bowl, combine the flour and salt. Next, add the oil and hot water, and work it with your hands until it is pliable… and continu to kneed for 10-15 minutes until it is smooth and not sticky. This is when you’ll want to put the kids to work.
We planned to paint some of our beads, so we left a large chunk of our dough in it’s natural color. But some of it we colored with food coloring. To do this, simply add a few drops of food coloring to your dough, knead and work it in until you’ve achieved the color you want.
Back to making the beads… Once your dough is prepared, use your hands to roll the dough into desired shapes. For the tube shaped beads, take a small piece of dough and using a rolling pin, roll it out onto a piece of parchment paper. Next, carefully roll the flattened piece of dough around a wooden skewer.
For the round beads, simply roll a piece of dough into a ball and poke a wooden skewer through the center. The kids actually got pretty good at this.
Once all of your unpainted beads are shaped, place them on a parchment or silicone lined baking sheet into the oven on 200 degrees for about 1 1/2 hour. They will be hard to the touch when done.
Lastly paint your beads. Allow them to dry completely. Then string them up using stretchy cord, to make bracelets and necklaces. All you have to do is tie the ends in a knot.
Beautiful hand painted beads…
These oven baked clay beads are so much fun to make!
This bracelet below is one we made using natural beads and dough that we colored with red and blue food coloring. I think it turned our very pretty!
So, what’s in your summer fun arsenal?
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Oh my goodness! Those are so cute and look like so much fun! What a great idea!
Oh My Word I am in love with this idea. My kids will be over the moon to make these. Thank so much for sharing. Going to bookmark this for late in the week! 🙂
This is such a great craft idea. I’m going to have to buy flour for this lol.
Those bracelets look really cute!
Those are cool!
Looks like such a fun and easy craft to make. We will definitely be trying it!
Oh, the possibilities for colors AND shapes. I like this idea quite a bit!
How cool! My 9 year old little sister would absolutely love this!
What a fun idea!
Ooh, what a fun project! I’m not sure about oven-baked beads… I need to focus on making any oven-baked food first 😛
Oh how cute!!! I saw a pic go by my FB timeline real quick yesterday and thought it was cereal!!! LOL Glad I came to check it out! The kiddos last day of school is today (help me) and this will be awesome to add to our summer craft list!
That is a really great idea, and a good craft for my oldest to do. Thanks!
My kids would love this! I’m putting together a list of fun activities to keep us busy this summer, I’ll have to add this to the list.
I’d love to do this with my daughter this summer.
that is a cool thing for crafty kids.
This looks like a fun activity and is wonderful for sensory play.
What a fun way to spend a day! I really do like the bracelet perfect for the 4th of July 🙂 We’ll be moving this summer, so it will be filled with packing and unpacking, I’m sure our daughter is thrilled with that LOL!
These look better then the store bought beads that you pay way too much for!
How fun is this! My daughter would love making and decorating her own beads.
So pretty! I wish my son had any interest in crafting…
My daughter would totally love this.
How fun! I love this idea for a DIY kids project.
What a great idea! I like the idea of bracelets with big beads. We can use it when dressing up for our tea parties 🙂
My daughter has a play date coming up and I think we found something great to do.
Great site! I’ll be back to visit!!!
-Danielle
Follow me: @DanielleASB
Blog: chatteroutloud.com
How fun would this be. My daughter would love this, she is into crafts and jewelry so this is a perfect combo.
Love it! I can’t wait to show this craft to my granddaughters, I think we will be creating over the summer months.
Pretty cool! Even my boys would love this!
oh wow. these look so easy and yes, i am feeling the pressure of coming up with fun things to do this summer! thank you for helping out!
These are super fun. I love handmade beads. Have you ever made paper beads? I love making those.
They are so so cute and yes I always feel pressure during the summer to come up with ideas!! Thanks for visiting our weekly party. Pinned and shared
What a fabulous idea – these look really fun for kids of all ages to make 🙂
I love this idea, although my kids are adults now and I’m not yet a grandmother. I DO, however, have plenty of grand nieces and nephews!
OMG! this is so easy and will keep the kids busy for hours…thank you for the post!
This would be a great craft to do with my daughter. She loves her dress up beaded necklaces and bracelets, but I like that these are handmade to your own design. Love this!
What a great idea! I never thought to make my own beads!