There are tons of reasons to fill your house with crafts. Maybe it’s cold and wet outside. Maybe your kid is sick or has an injury. Maybe you just want them to have something to do that isn’t playing video games or watching TV!

SO you go to Michael’s Craft Store. You are all immediately overwhelmed with choice.

Do we want to make our own slime? Do we want to try out friendship bracelets? Are the kids too old for the science experiments, too young for the yarn projects?

Are these just going to end up as tiny, sticky bits of trash all over my living room?

These are all fair questions. Craft projects can be their own sources of anxiety! (Read our blog post all about Messy Science with Kids HERE) It is also hard to know exactly where to start. ESPECIALLY with something like

PERLER BEADS.

Perler beads are colorful beads with holes through them that are used to make mosaic style art pieces. You use flat pegboards of various sizes and styles depending on what you are planning on making. Once the design is made, you place a piece of wax paper over it and carefully iron it on medium heat until the beads have melted into each other firmly. I suggest also ironing the other side once you have removed the design from the pegboard, but it is not required.

Some Cons:

>You really have to do an entire project in one sitting. Leaving perler beads half done on a pegboard is not like leaving an unfinished puzzle. The slightest rumble can send them scattering which can be really frustrating.

> This isn’t really a con! It’s just something you need to know. Even at ages 5 and 7, this is not something my kids can do without supervision. It is definitely a family activity that you actively participate in. Once they learn to follow a pattern and how to fix mistakes, you can all work on your own designs together! But they will still need your help with the iron for a long time.

> The ironing is tricky: The beads can come up if you press too hard on one part. If the design gets messed up in this process it is really hard to “fix” it. Most of the time you just have to start over. Once you figure out how much heat, pressure, and time your designs need this can become a lot easier.

> The beads get everywhere. It’s just a fact. We have been pretty good about cleaning up, and this is a good lesson for your kids to be responsible with their crafts and big clean-up helpers, but colors get mixed, boxes get knocked over. I suggest doing it on the floor if you can.

Our Verdict: This Craft Medium is Fun, Clever, Thoughtful, Versatile, Timeless.

They are incredibly versatile in what you can make and you can buy as much or as little of them as you want. They are not sticky and do not go bad! If you are a beginner, there are templates for designs as simple as stars, hearts, and generic animals, or as complex as highly detailed portraits and star ships! There are perler sets for nearly any fandom your kid (or you!) participates in, including Mario Bros., Star Wars, and Minecraft!

Once we tried out a kit and decided this was really fun, we began making our own designs! My daughter decided to try out making a unicorn, and my son made his own little heart shape. You can also find plenty of designs for anything you like on artistic sites like Pinterest, where we found all of these! Once you get a feel for them, it becomes fairly simple to create your own designs.

You aren’t just making more plastic toys to clutter your house. I mean, in a sense you are, but they are so much more than that. They are something that you created together. So many toys right now are made to engage the “unboxing” excitement in kids. It’s all about the initial thrill of GETTING the toy or collectible, then it’s immediately old news.

On a sick day from school, my son and I made his favorite characters. They are a staple in the household right now. They are waterproof so they even go in the bathtub! They eat at dinner with us, we talk for them, they get a movie pick in our movie night rotation. They mean so much to us, and I think it is in no small part because we worked together to create them.

The more creative you get, the more you can do!

We have made necklace charms for my daughter’s friends. We have made Valentines to mail to friends far away. You can make key chains, name tags, picture frames, 3D figures, flower pots (with perler flowers!).

The Crafts Can Be Used In Active Games: We made an entire afternoon’s fun in the form of a Minecraft Item Scavenger Hunt! The kids had to follow clues, do mini games, and complete an obstacle course to get their proper Minecraft tools and weapons. At the end, even the PRIZE they earned for solving all the riddles was an egg made from Perler beads! It took a lot of planning and crafting, but I got to do something special with the kids and it didn’t cost anything more than the craft pieces I already had.

Have you tried these yet? If so, let us know what you’ve made in the comments!