One of the favorites of Mardi Gras are the piles of beads. Purple, green and gold beaded necklaces are everywhere! We have a few traditional Mardi Gras necklaces, but wanted to make our own and none of our stringing bead stashes included all 3 colors and we really wanted to make a sparkly necklace.
So, instead we used recycled cardboard from a pizza box, craft paint and glitter paint to make our own threaded Mardi Gras necklace. You and your preschooler can make your own Mardi Gras necklace in no time while practicing color recognition and lacing/threading skills.
Materials you need to make a recycled cardboard Mardi Gras necklace:
- Recycled cardboard – food boxes work well
- Craft paint in green, purple and gold (yellow)
- Glitter paint/glue in green, purple and gold
- Hole punch
- Ribbon or string/yarn
- Scissors
How to make your own Mardi Gras necklace:
- Cut cardboard into 1″ wide strips.
- Paint cardboard with craft paint, let dry then paint with glitter and let dry.
- Cut cardboard into squarish pieces. Punch 2 small holes in each.
- Using string or ribbon, lace the pieces of glittery cardboard into a necklace.
We made two necklaces. One was laced with a single cardboard “bead” for each space while the second necklace I doubled the cardboard pieces so there was glitter on both sides of the necklace. You could paint both sides of your cardboard to accomplish this as well.
For extra fun, we also made Mardi Gras Masks, a cardboard glittery bracelet and some yummy Mardi Gras cake mix cookies.