3D Perler Bead Pikachu

My kids went back to school this week. I feel like we start so much later than most of the country since we don't go back until after Labor Day. We had such a great summer that it was hard to send them off. My goal is always to give my kids somewhat of a good ol' fashioned summer. I want summertime to be a chance to slow down and explore life. To keep their eyes away from screens and give them a chance to get plenty of fresh air, go on bike rides, catch fireflies, carve soap, chew gum and learn to blow bubbles, swim, play at the park, read a lot of books, do arts and crafts, and hopefully have enough free time that they actually have a chance to be bored once or twice.

One thing my kids had fun with over the summer was creating things out of perler beads. My kids love these things! My nine year old got really creative and figured out how to make a 3D Pikachu. He then went on to make some other Pokemon characters and then my other kids started making them too and before you know it we had a house full of Pokemon!

My son thought other kids might like to learn how to make a 3D Pikachu too so he suggested we could put the instructions up on my blog. So here it is:

How to make a 3D Pikachu out of Perler Beads

Follow the pattern below to create the pieces to build your Pikachu. As you can see the feet on the green plate need to be on a plate that has pegs at an angle.

Here are all the pieces ironed and ready to start building. The key to making your Pikachu come together easily is to iron the pieces just enough to have them melt together. If you use too much heat and pressure so that the pieces get too flat it will be hard for the pieces to fit together easily.

Putting your Pikachu together is kind of like building a 3D puzzle. The pieces fit and lock together. Follow the visual instructions below to build your Pikachu.

All done! Isn't he cute?

Using the basic design of the Pikachu it's easy to create other Pokemon. Here are a few favorites: Wartortle, Charmander, Pikachu, Minccino, and Charizard.

Learn how to make a 3D Perler Bead Pokeball HERE!

Now go create 'em all!

LDS Tangrams

General Conference is this coming weekend! In our home we almost treat it like a minor holiday--we have certain treats and traditions that we have been doing for years now.  Every six months I put together a conference basket to keep my children entertained and engaged in the broadcast.  The contents of our basket varies from year to year depending on the ages of my children, my creativity level, and requests from my kids.  My good friend, Kensie, shared and idea with me this week that I am going to pass on to you!  This would be the perfect addition to your conference weekend . . . or any Sunday (you could hand this off to your kids while you sneak in a quick Sunday afternoon nap!)  

I loved doing tangrams as a kid.  And really, I still love to play with them!  Kensie created these tangram cards with an LDS twist.  

She created 31 different cards and you can download them all for free! (If you don't have tangrams in your house you can order them here or you can even print some for free here.)

I hope this idea helps you with your Conference Weekend plans.  Enjoy!


(In order to download the cards you will need to click on the image and then right click to save.)