Beadie Critters

Did you ever wonder what a mother who makes jewellery does for her children’s school fair?

I had offered to work with the children to make items for their class stall and shouldn’t have been surprised when the teacher took me up on my offer.

Now making jewellery would be an obvious answer to what to do with them - but I didn’t want to be obvious and so spent some time making some simple critters with beads and craft wire. I had wonderful visions of what they’d be able to make, possibly with my stash of gem and pearl seconds.



I planned out what they’d need and sat down with my primary aged girls who play with my wire scraps and castoff pearls constantly to make 3 different critters – a doodlebug, a caterpillar and a spider.



Unfortunately I soon realised that sturdy craft wire and small drill holes (common in gems and pearls) didn’t go together. Then found my idea of the average 11 year olds abilities and reality didn’t match up at all. *sigh*

In resignation, I decided simple was best, so I sourced some colourful painted and dyed wooden beads, some beading elastic and then found myself at the front of a classroom last week with 30+ children listening to me instruct them in the art of making a stretchy bracelet.

It was rather fortunate that the teacher hadn’t told me that I would be “speaking to the class” as I may have run away. As anyone who knows me well can testify, when it comes to more than about a dozen people, I avoid being the centre of attention and become amazingly silent. I tend to be more a ‘doer’ than a ‘talker’. Public speaking is definitely not my thing although of course I can talk the leg off an iron pot in a one to one or small group situation!

But I survived the instructional phase at the front of the classroom and then relaxed as I got to work with a table of children at a time.

I was very impressed with the determination of the children and their skill in colour selection for their beaded bracelets and rings and feel sure that they will be able to use all their stocks of beads by the fair to make a good selection for fair visitors to buy.



But, not to be outdone, I took matters into my own hands and made a couple of dozen critters for the stall. I think they're cute (well, some of the spiders are a bit freaky I'll admit!) ... what do you think?

By the way, Dunedoo Show was huge last weekend – I’m still recovering, as well as making up orders from the day to be delivered on my way to set up at Mendooran Show this Saturday. If I survive this "5 shows in 5 weeks" stint I'll be due for a holiday!