Mother-Daughter Bonding Activity – Making Bracelets

Mother-Daughter Bonding Activity – Making Beaded Bracelets

The positive relationship that a tween/teen girl has with her mother serves as a protective factor and helps her to make healthy decisions, particularly in risky situations involving substance use, sexual behavior, and social media use. In order to maintain and strengthen that relationship, parents and children need to spend time together. They benefit from engaging in activities that provide opportunities for connecting on an emotional.

One activity that provides this opportunity is to make mother and daughter bracelets for one another. Visit a local craft store and buy elastic and glass beads in a variety of colors, or you can purchase at www.artbeads.com. Each color bead on the bracelet represents a quality in the mother or daughter that is appreciated, a memory, or favorite activity. For example, green could represent, “I love when we walk together”, pink could represent, “I love you”, and purple could represent “I appreciate that you cook for me”. Each color and related sentiment is then written down on a card and given to the other person along with the bracelet.

You will need 12 inches of elastic for each bracelet. Round Swarovski crystals are a nice bead to use for this project, and they come in several colors. If you use 8mm beads, you will need 22-23 for an adult bracelet, and 20-21 for a child bracelet. 1) Cut 12 inches of string, 2) tape down one end onto the table about one inch from the end, 3) string the beads on the elastic 4) peel tape off the table to lift up bracelet, and tie onto your daughter’s wrist, 5) make 4-5 tight knots, 6) cut off extra elastic close to the knot, 7) secure with a little dab of craft (Elmer’s) glue. Here is a link to browse round Swarovski 8mm beads. http://www.artbeads.com/swarovski-rounds-8mm.html and here is a link for the elastic. http://www.artbeads.com/el25cl05.html