Beaded Snowflake
Supplies
Pipe Cleaners
Pony Beads
Scissors
Instructions
If you want to do this winter fine motor activity with young kids you will need to do a little bit of prep work before the project. Don’t worry, it is really not difficult. I began by cutting pipe cleaners in half.
You will need 3 of the halved pipe cleaners for each snowflake. I folded the small (halved) pipe cleaners in half. Then, I twisted two of them together on the bend. Finally, I twisted the third small pipe cleaner around the first two. That’s all you need to do to get them ready for kids to add the pony beads.
FINE MOTOR PRACTICE
If you want kids to have creative freedom, you can just let them place the pony beads on the pipe cleaner snowflakes without additional instructions. Kids will enjoy the fine motor activity as they create gorgeous snowflakes.
MATH CONCEPTS
When we made our snowflakes we tried to incorporate some math learning. I get excited when I think about all the different ways I can create learning opportunities within an activity. Here are a few ideas:
Counting – Ask kids to place 5 pony beads on each pipe cleaner. I found that they kept counting them to check the quantity. They also had to figure out how many more they needed to add or take off to get the correct number of beads. When your snowflakes are complete, you can ask kids to count the total quantity of beads on their snowflakes.
Pattern by Color – Ask kids to create a pattern with the bead colors. They can create an ABAB or similar pattern on each individual pipe cleaner or kids can create a pattern by filling alternating colors on each pipe cleaner.
Pattern by Quantity – If kids placed 4 beads on one pipe cleaner and 5 beads on the next pipe cleaner, etc…they would have an ABAB pattern made with bead quantities.
Constructing and Deconstructing Numbers – Use two color of beads. Ask kids to place 5 beads on each pipe cleaner and ask them how many different ways they can create 5 with the colors. (4 purple beads + 1 blue bead, 3 purple beads + 2 blue beads, 2 purple beads + 3 blue beads…..)
FINISHING THE SNOWFLAKES
Okay, back to making the snowflakes. To finish the snowflakes we wrapped the end of the pipe cleaner around our finger to curl it and stuffed the end of the pipe cleaner into the hole of the last bead. This kind of creates a knot so that the beads won’t come off. Young kids may need help to accomplish this. Finally, you can tie a ribbon to one of the ends to create an ornament.
