How to make 'bracelets with a message'

Plastic charity bracelets in their varying colours have become the latest fashion accessory. Many schools have had to ban the wearing of the bracelets in school. But I wonder if many of the children who wear these bracelets really know or understand the needs of the charity they represent.

Here are two ideas for bracelets that children can understand and maybe then they can be helped to understand some of the other kinds so that they become more than a fashion accessory or latest trend.

The Fruits of the Spirit bracelet

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. Galatians 5: 22

For this you will need:

Variety of beads (beads / necklaces available from charity shops could be used)
Or: coloured pasta – colour penne (tube) pasta by placing pasta in a plastic bag and adding food colouring. Shake pasta in bag until pasta is coloured, then place on a kitchen roll to dry. Repeat using various colours to colour the pasta.
Shirring elastic for threading

Talk together:

Talk together with the children about the different characteristics of the fruits of the Spirit. Think about the opposites of these words and what happens when we are not patient, kind and loving to one another.
Invite the children to choose nine different beads one for each of the fruits. (The beads might be different colours, shapes or sizes).
Thread the beads or pasta onto elastic and tie the two ends together.
Invite children to identify to each other which bead represents which fruit, this will help them to learn the names of the different fruits.
Remind the children that as they wear the bracelet they can remember how God wants them to live alongside one another.

Friendship Bands

For this you will need:

Three strands of wool 70 cms long, one red and two other different colours.

Tie the ends together and either tape the end to a table or ask a friend to help by holding the end.
Hold thread B with your left hand. Loop thread A over the top, and then, underneath as shown (illustration above right). Pull the loop you have made up to the knot at the top. Do exactly the same again, looping thread A over and under thread B. 
Now do the same thing, this time taking thread A over thread C. Again, do it twice.
Thread B should be at the left hand side now.
Carry on in the same way, always knotting the left hand thread twice round the centre thread, then twice round the right hand thread.  Stop when your string is long enough.
Tie all the threads together and trim the ends about 5cms from the knot.

Talk together:

Talk together about friends, family and other people who care for us. Take a piece of the red wool and remind the children how Jesus loved us so much that he even died on a cross for us. Remind the children that Jesus is always there for us. 
Now invite the children to think of two other people who are very special to them and to choose a coloured piece of wool for each of them. Invite the children to plait their friendship bracelet as the instruction above. (A simpler way would be to plait the three threads). 
Remind the children that as they wear the bracelet they can remember that they are never alone.

Make Poverty History Bracelets

Having thought with the children about the symbols behind wearing bracelets such as those talked about above, you could then talk about the white band bracelets that are available from Oxfam as the symbol for Make Poverty History and the G8 summit that will be taking place this month.
The images we’ve seen on TV of the Asian tsunami disaster have been shocking, but they conceal another crisis – one of widespread underdevelopment both in Asia and throughout
developing countries.
Around 30,000 children die unnecessarily every day due to poverty, but because these deaths don’t all happen at once, the situation rarely reaches our newspapers or televisions.
In July the UK will be hosting the annual meeting of the G8, the world’s most powerful political leaders. Make Poverty History is a bid to urge world leaders to take long term action that could lift millions of people out of poverty.

Wear a white band

The white band is the symbol of Make Poverty History and the Global Call to Action Against Poverty. Across the world, people can show their support to tackle poverty, by wearing a simple white band. There are specific White Band Days:  1 July (just before the G8); 10 September (just before the UN summit).
 People will be asked to wear their white bands as a global mark of solidarity and support. White bands can be bought from Oxfam, Traidcraft or Christian Aid online, or in Oxfam shops.

Jenny Hyson is the diocesan children’s adviser