With a sprinkle of imagination and a dash of creativity, you and your kids can create your very own paper mermaid charm necklaces. These delightful necklaces are perfect for a mermaid party, A kid-made Little Mermaid-inspired accessory, or a quick sea-themed craft during those sunny summer days. Get ready to unleash the inner Ariel in your little ones…
With August right around the corner, the temperature at a steady 90 degrees, and back-to-school musings already creeping into the conversation, I suddenly feel like I need to immerse myself in summer.
I’ve been taking a couple of little water babies to the pool on the regular, and planning a few special projects to help us escape to the bottom of the sea seemed like the best way to soak up every last second of the season.
Using a set of free printable mermaid accessories, I brought back a favorite from my childhood and made our paper mermaid charm necklaces! A seahorse here, a starfish there – just like the retro charms I used to collect as a kid in the 80s, you can mix, match, replace, and rearrange your necklace.
For a natural twist on this enchanting accessory, visit our brand-new tutorial for magic mermaid painted shell necklace craft!
To make mermaid charm necklaces you’ll need:
Note: We prefer to shop locally or use what we have at home, but this list contains Woodpeckers Crafts, Etsy, Blick Art Materials, Bookshop.org and/or Amazon affiliate links for reference. As affiliates (and Amazon Associates), we make a small commission on qualifying purchases.*
BASIC SUPPLIES:
- Our free printable paper mermaid play PDF
- Heavy cardstock or eco-friendly waterproof cardstock like this
- Scissors
- A hole punch (we used both 1/4″ and 1/8″ sizes)
- Yarn, ribbon, braiding cord, cotton rope, or similar
- Small lanyard clasps
OPTIONAL SUPPLIES:
- A Self-laminating sheet – we use these Scotch brand sheets (unnecessary with waterproof paper)
- Embroidery floss for DIY tassels like ours
- Wooden or Perler beads
- Pasta + paints or air-dry clay for DIY beads
- Any other decorations you’d like to add to your necklace
How to Make a Paper Mermaid Charm Necklace – DIY Instructions:
Print and cut out the mermaid charm templates.
Print out the desired pages of our free printable paper mermaid play PDF – I used the large shell cards and sticker sheet pages to make the large shell and charms.
Cut out your paper mermaid charm pieces.
Cut out the charm pieces you’d like to use for your necklace.
If you’d like your shell and charms to hold up for a while, you can laminate them in a self-laminating sheet like these, but if you’re feeling inspired to go ocean-friendly and use zero plastic, try a green waterproof paper like this.
You can also cut out a round circle or shell-shaped piece of cardboard to use as a backer behind your paper shell to give it some extra reinforcement. Cut out your main shell and charms.
Make a hole in your charms with a hole punch.
Use a hole punch to make small holes in your shell and charms. We made (2) 1/4″ standard-sized holes in our large shells to thread yarn through. I used a 1/8″ punch for the smaller charm holes.
Add lanyard clasps to your charms – we used metal, but small plastic clasps like these may be easier for little hands to work with!
Cut a length of ribbon or yarn for the necklace charm chains.
I used a super-soft, nubby yarn to make our necklace “chains” – to give it some thickness, I tripled it up, then tied knots at the sides and tops to keep it together. If you want to keep this super simple, you can just as easily use ribbon or cording – anything goes!
Tip: adding some knots and/or beads gives your charms something to catch on so they don’t fall down to the bottom and are spaced out along your necklace.
Add colorful DIY tassels.
To give our charm necklaces a little extra pizazz, we thought making some little DIY tassels in bright colors would be fun. I used these clear step-by-step instructions.
Honestly, it took me longer than I thought to make them, and if I were doing this for a party or with younger kids I would skip the tassels and go for beads.
If you have the time and patience, the tassels do look SO cute! You can tie your tassels onto the necklace or add a clasp to make them removable/moveable.
Add your small charms to your paper mermaid necklace.
Once you’ve added any extra you want, you can start adding charms! These make a deliciously cute small handmade gift for friends or a fab party craft – all you have to do is print, lay out some scissors and supplies, and let your little revelers go to town!
I love that this DIY version of a charm necklace is made with almost no plastic, and can be taken apart and recycled or made into other things. The paper mermaid charms can easily be taken off and used elsewhere – as part of a mermaid party invitation, hanging from a homemade mermaid mobile, or even as some backpack flair for all those Little Mermaid lovers getting ready to head back to school!
And there you have it, fellow sea fans and crafty adventurers – your very own DIY mermaid charm necklaces, fit for any under-the-sea dreamer!
More Ocean-Inspired Kids Craft
Last week we made DIY crab softies (great for Sebastian fans!) and this week we’re going FULL mermaid. If you haven’t visited it yet, take a peek at our mermaid mail and mini mailbox craft.
Little sea lovers will have a ball making these salt dough starfish. And don’t miss our whole roundup of under-the-sea crafts for kids!
Beachy Summer Activities for Kids
Thirsty for more hot summer activities for fun in the sun? These recycled cereal box DIY sunglasses are one of our most popular summer projects. Or print out and bookmark our beach scavenger hunt and collection of kids beach play activities for seaside entertainment.
*A note about affiliate links: We strive to use simple, earth-friendly supplies that can be purchased locally whenever we can, but sometimes we find the best universally available options, a rare eco-friendly find, or a niche product only available on Blick Art Materials, Amazon, Etsy, or Woodpeckers Crafts. When included in our supply list, these products are affiliate links, and if you click through to make a purchase we receive a small commission that helps us re-order these supplies!
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