Make and give Canada Day friendship bracelets

On July 1st, Canada celebrates its 142nd anniversary of Confederation. As a native of Ottawa, our nation's capital city, Canada Day has always been very special to me. It's a reminder that we live, in my opinion, in the best country in the whole world.

As my family gears up to celebrate this year, I've had my kids and their best buddies make red and white bracelets. Not only will these bracelets add to their Canada Day outfits of red and white, but they can share them with others as a symbol of friendship and unity.

These bracelets are fun and simple to make. Just be sure to buy extra materials - they'll want to make loads of them.

What you need

Canada Day friendship bracelets

Collecting your materials: Find clear vinyl tubing in the plumbing section of your building supplies store. For the bracelets shown, I used 3/16 inch (outside diameter) tubing for the bracelet and 5/16 inch (outside diameter) tubing with a 3/16 inch inside diameter for the connector. The bracelet must fit snugly into the connector tubing. This means that the inside diameter of the connecter must be the same as the outside diameter of the bracelet tubing. Before you have the tubing cut, take a few minutes to check this. I bought about 8 feet (it's cheap!) of bracelet tubing and 2 feet of connector tubing. You will also need a hot-melt glue gun and glue sticks, scissors and fillers. Make sure you pick up beads that will easily fit into the tubing. Chenille stems look great too. We used glittery red.

Step One: Loosely measure the bracelet tubing around the child's wrist, making sure it can slide off, but won't slip off, before you cut it to length. Use this as a template to cut more bracelets before the child begins filling. Your tubing might be stamped with the size. Use stamped tubing with dark coloured fillers and save the unmarked sections of tubing for use with lighter coloured fillers. NOTE: make sure the kids don't blow into the tubing. This will cause condensation and the beads will get stuck when the kids try to fill them!

Step Two: Before the kids start filling, an adult should plug in the hot melt glue gun and squeeze a small amount of hot-melt glue into one end of the bracelet tube. Make sure the glue goes inside only and doesn't clump around the edges (or else it will be tricky to get the connector tube on later). The glue will keep the beads in place while the bracelet is being filled. When using chenille stems, you should skip this step.

Step Three: Pour small beads into separate containers. Now the children just have to drop the beads into the tubing. If the beads get stuck, flick the tubing with your fingers or have a skewer handy to push the beads down. Encourage the kids to be creative: experiment with patterns and make every bracelet a bit different.

Step Four: When using chenille stems, simply slide the stem into the tubing. If it gets stuck, cut the chenille stem and work from the other end. You won't see the seam.

Step Five: When each bracelet is filled, an adult can squeeze hot-melt glue into the open end (both ends now for the chenille stem bracelets). This way, even if the connector comes off, the fillers won't come out.

Step Six: Cut a one-inch or so connector from the larger tubing. Push one end of the bracelet onto the connector and then do the same with the other end.

Simple! Now the kids can wear and give these friendship bracelets to friends on July 1st. They can also use the same steps to make necklaces and anklets. This is a fun summer craft, too. Have fun finding different fillers.

Happy Canada Day!