Colorful Perler Bead Bowl Craft

Do your kids love making perler bead craft projects? My preschool, pre k, kindergarten, first grade, and 2nd grade children love using melty beads to create fun animals and characters by moving the small, colorful fuse beads onto a template and then ironing to melt them together. For this perler bead bowl project we used our colorful perler beads to make a beautiful, decorative bowl. This is so pretty to decorate your home, as a DIY Christmas present kids can make themselves, or just a fun way to spend an afternoon.

Perler Bead Bowl

Do your children like creating perler bead crafts? The big bin of colorful little beads seems to call to them! Using them with template is a great way to work on fine motor skills and pincer grasp, but today we were looking for a bigger, quicker, and easier craft using perler beads. This perler bead bowl project couldn’t be any easier! To make this easy Christmas craft for preschoolers, toddlers, kindergartners, grade 1, and grade 2 students you will need several cups of perler beads (also know as fushion beads)! They are cheap, easy to work with, and the options for creating creative crafts for kids are endless!

Perler Bead Craft

You can make this craft with just one or two colors to make a bowl decorative bowl craft to match your room decor, but we decided to use the big bucket with lots of colors in various shades. So before we start, let your kiddo dig their hands in and enjoy the sensory feel of all those tiny beads.

Melty Beads

This super easy melty beads project for kids is so simple. Here is what you need:

1-2 cups fuse beads
small glass bowl
butter
oven, pot holders, and adult supervision =)

Fuse Bead Craft

We preheated the oven to 375 F. Then we buttered the smallest glass mixing bowl we had (think 6” diameter). The kids helped place the beads in the bowl and up the sides in a single layer. For this project you really don’t want it to be too thick so stick to a single, carefully placed layer of fuse beads.

Hint: The butter not only helps the bowl pop right out, but it also makes the beads stick up the sides too making it easier for toddlers, preschoolers, and kindergarten age kids to help!

Easy Crafts for Kids

We tried this twice. (here is our first one)

We found that cooking it longer (like 20 minutes or so) gave us a “prettier” bowl. The beads were more melted and created a more seamless bowl. (there were no small holes like in the one above).

Hint: The perler beads really didn’t smell or smoke while they were cooking. I was surprised! But as always, watch them carefully and check them frequently for your desired “doneness”

Crafts with Perler Beads

Above is our second and favorite bowl. See how there are no holes, but a seamless, colorful wall of melted plastic perler beads.

Christmas Craft for Kids

Here you can see the bottom of our favorite bowl – see how pretty and seamless it is. The colors are just stunning. The back one has small holes – still nice, but I’d advice cooking it 20 minutes.

This pretty bowl would make a great kid made gift for Grandparents or to keep as a candy bowl, spare change spot, candy bowl, and a lot of other uses.

Christmas Books for Kids

Looking for some fun Christmas picture books to add to your collection. These are some of our favorite children’s Christmas books to read in December.