​You will need:

• Yarn/wool in your colour of choice
• Scissors

Instructions:
1. Cut a length of yarn 20cm/8in long. Fold the top of the yarn over to create a loop with the top third of the length of yarn. Tuck the loop between your fingers as shown below, leaving the two yarn tails free at the back of your hand.
2. Wrap the yarn around your four fingers until the pom pom is as thick as you would like it to be (tip: hold the end of the yarn between your thumb and forefinger as you get started, this will stop the yarn moving). Cut the end of the yarn away from the ball.
3. Thread the yarn tails through the loop and pull to tighten around the middle of the pom pom (see the video above for more detail). Tie the yarn loop off tightly.
4. Once tied securely cut open each of the loops.
5. Fluff up your pom pom and trim as necessary to ensure the yarn strands are all the same length.
6. Leave one long tail to form the bookmark for your pom pom.
Your pom pom bookmark is now ready to use in your favourite books!

​These paper pinwheels are quick and easy to make.
You will need:

• Pre-painted paper (if you have an old piece of artwork on heavy paper or cardboard, this is the perfect way to recycle it!)
• Ruler
• Pencil
• Scissors
• Thumbtack/pushpin
• Short dress pins/straight pins (the ones with a round head)
• Thin wooden dowel (The wooden stick for the handle)
• Small round bead
• Hot glue gun (ask an adult for help with this)

To make:
1. You could reuse a picture you have already done on thick/heavy paper or light carboard by turning it over and free painting the reverse side with food colouring. Whatever paper you decide to use, painting both sides means you create some really special pinwheels.
2. Cut your paper into 15cm squares (smaller or larger work too).
3. Use a ruler and pencil to draw lines from corner to corner, crossing in the centre.
4. Use scissors to cut along the drawn lines, stopping 2.5cm-5cm from the centre each time.
5. Cut a 2.5cm circle from the leftover paper.
6. Use the thumbtack to poke a hole in the centre of your paper circle, in the centre of the pencilled X, near the tip of each pinwheel spoke (you will have two points in each corner of your paper square, just pierce one point making sure that it is the same side each time), and near the top of your dowel (see below). I did give the thumbtack a light tap with a wooden block to make a deeper hole in the wood. If you are having difficulty, ask an adult for help.
7. To assemble your pinwheel, insert the dress pin through the hole in your paper circle, then through each of the four points (or spokes), one at a time, and finally through the centre of the pencilled X. Slip the small bead onto the pin, then add a small dab of glue from the hot glue gun to the end of the pin and push it into the hole in your wooden dowel. It will dry quickly.
Your pinwheel is done and now ready to experiment with. Blow into the spokes to make them turn or hold them up in the wind and watch them whirl! Check out how awesome they look…

Sort your beads and sort your safety pins. The amount of safety pins you need will depend on how many safety pin friendship pins you are planning on making.

When you are finished with your sorting, determine how many beads would fit on each different sized pin. With that knowledge, start creating your friendship pin patterns on graph paper.

You could simply add random beads to make friendship safety pins. Choose a set of colours that you will make all of your pins with – so that when you hand out your pins to your friends you all have the same colour pins. However, we wanted to show you the technical skills in case you want to have specific patterns rather than random beads!

By using graph paper, you can plan out the pattern you want to create. The number of boxes down is the number of beads on a single pin. The number of boxes across is the number of pins being used. Once you creat your pattern on paper and choose the colour of beads you want to use, it is time to get beading.

When the beading is all done, the pins are complete. Now that you know how you could even make a beautiful patterned necklace.
​
Friendship beads aren’t complete until they are shared with friends…right?
These safety pin friendship pins are going to be put on shoe laces, so you can just line them up on the laces. If you want to hang the pins on one large safety pin and still keep the pattern together you will need to take an extra stepThe friendship pin can be attached to a shirt, hat, scarf or your favourite jean jacket.
 
 
Beading Tip: When you are working with beads it is a good idea to work on top of a towel. Using a towel will keep the beads from rolling all right off your work surface. The little beads will be caught in the towel loops…so make sure it isn’t a smooth towel. This really helps when you’re working on pattern designs – it keeps your patterns in order.