How to Make Trinkets With Kids

Trinket Boxes

• 1

  Get a small wooden chest from your local arts and crafts supply store. The chest should open and close easily on its hinge, and should also include a metal clasp to keep its lid shut. Look for a chest that is unfinished and unvarnished.

• 2

  Construct a trinket box from popsicle sticks if you can't find a wooden chest to personalize in a store. Line up 11 popsicle sticks so that their long edges are touching. Glue two popsicle sticks vertically across the 11 sticks with a hot glue gun or craft glue to hold the popsicle sticks together. Use another 13 popsicle sticks and repeat the procedure. These two pieces of glued popsicle sticks will serve as the top and bottom of the box.

• 3

  Stack popsicle sticks two at a time on opposite sides of one of the box pieces, gluing the sticks down at their tips as you go. Continue stacking popsicle sticks on alternating sides of the box in a log-cabin style until you reach your desired box height.

• 4

  Glue four large beads on the bottom corners of the box to serve as feet, and one large bead on the box top to function as a handle.

• 5

  Let kids express their artistic vision and personality by decorating their trinket box with paints, glitter, stickers, sequins, foam art pieces, seed beads and any other craft supplies you might have that can be adhered or painted to the box's surface.

Ornamental Trinkets

• 6

  Wash and dry small, smooth stones that you find on the seashore, in ravines and creeks or in parks or wooded areas.

• 7

  Draw faces and decorative elements on the stones with permanent markers in different colors. You can also stick on small rhinestones, seed beads and foam art pieces to give the stones a more decorative touch. Store the decorated stones in your trinket box once they're dry.

• 8

  Lay popsicle sticks out in different formations so that their ends touch. Make circles, stars, squares and trapezoids. Cut pieces of the popsicle sticks if you need shorter lengths. Glue the popsicle sticks at their ends to secure the shape.

• 9

  Decorate the popsicle sticks with paint, glitter, seed beads, foam art pieces and other craft supplies. Let dry.

• 10

  Tie a piece of ribbon or string around one of the points of your popsicle stick shape. Hang your ornament in a window to catch the light, in a bedroom or on a cork board.