Lanyards are small pieces of plastic, cloth or leather that you can wrap around your wrist or neck to hold something small like a whistle, key, ID lanyard, Badge Lanyard or anything else you have a need for. They have become very popular over time and for some they enjoy making them instead of just purchasing them outright.

Making a lanyard can be so much fun as it allows you to use your creative side, to shape and mold something from just a few pieces of materials. Lanyard making can also be a great active for kids, preteens and mom’s, as they are often the ones relegated to doing crafty things with their kids.

If you are going to make a lanyard there are a few things that you will want to keep in mind and after we review them we will go through a short step by step on how to make a lanyard from scratch.

• Make sure that the materials you use are thin, elastic and preferably plastic; these are good for kids to manipulate their hands with while crafting them.
• Boondoggling, Gimp is a common material to use for making lanyards
• Have enough supplies on hand so that you don’t run out.

Let’s look at a very basic step by step guide to make a lanyard:

• Take the two lengths of lace and fold them in two then tie a knot; making this close to the edge of the two laces.
• After making the knot you will have 4 strands fastened near the top, at this point you will separate the laces in all opposite directions.
• Next you will begin to begin to interlace the 4 strands starting with the one closest to you then repeat until they all cross each other.
• While you are cross each make sure to keep the lace nice and tight so that the lanyard will come out right.
• Once you have gotten to the desire length of the lanyard create a similar knot at the new end.

Lanyard making is a good way to pass the long summer days at home or in the community park where you live.  If you are looking for more ideas on how to make lanyards, keep a look out for some more in depth articles where we begin to add other pieces to them.

We just reviewed How to make a Lanyard and from it we got a basic overview of some of the materials used in making one along with a short step by step guide.  Next, we will look at a specific type of lanyard that can be made: beaded lanyards.

With beaded lanyards the target audience or those who might enjoy making them is about the same as other lanyards; kids, preteens and moms; however with beaded lanyards they are found to be popular among young teen, up to 15.  The reason behind this seems to be the additional creative flare that comes with making the beaded lanyards.

Since lanyards are worn around the neck or wrist and some time are accompanied by fastened items; like a charm, key or some other item, the possibilities of what you can make and how you can be creative with them are broad. 

When making beaded lanyards the most common materials used are cotton, cords, polyester & nylon and can all be found at your local craft or hobby store. In addition to the lace you will also want to pick up some additional items to make this more fun; thus the name beaded lanyards.

Traditionally the name beaded lanyard came from the round beads that kids would weave into the lanyards, but now these beaded items can include shapes; rainbows, stars, animals; letting of all shapes and sizes; and vast amount of little charms. These beaded items are not only are focused for girls but, there are even some items that boys might like too: skulls, guns, and knives to name a few.

This should have been mentioned earlier but, there are also lots of different types of patterns or templates that you can focus your creativity around; such as metallic, jeweled popular or unique beaded patterns. Some addition ideas could include: favorite movie, cartoon character, latest pop star, etc. Each of these ideas might help your kids with some direction if these are having a tough time deciding what they should make.

As is can plainly be seen, if you are looking to get into making beaded lanyard you just have opened up so many more possibilities for fun like making your own custom lanyards. With kids being out from school and boredom so often easily sets in making beaded lanyards would be an excellent time to spend part of their day. For more ideas on lanyards please see one of the links below.