How to Make a Pipe Cleaner and Bead Abacus

Total Time: 30 minutes

Supplies:

• assorted colored beads
• letter beads
• pipe cleaners
• felt
• cardboard
• hot glue

Steps:

1. I cut out a piece of sturdy cardboard 6 by 9 inches. Using hot glue apply glue on the cardboard and stick black felt down covering the entire cardboard front and back.
2. Using assorted pipe cleaners thread on beads of your choice. For the first row, I put my child's name, then rows abacus style of 1 to 10, then at the bottom, two rows of alphabet letters. Once complete threading the beads in the order you would like, figure the layout you would like them to be on the felt. I put name, numbers, and alphabet.
3. Grabbing the pipe cleaners with your beads in the order you like, one by one, place over the felt and fold over the felt on both sides. Where you fold the pipe cleaners on both sides apply hot glue to hold the pipe cleaners down. Repeat until you are finished.
4. Using extra black felt or any felt, cover the backing where the pipe cleaners were glued so it does not get snagged. Sometimes the pipe cleaners ends could be sharp, as well.

 
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