DIY Personalized Sofia the First Amulet Necklace

Essley's current favorite television show is Sofia the First on Disney Junior. She loves Sofia's spunkiness, the music in the show (she dances to and acts out the opening theme, every time), and, more than anything, all of the fantastic adventures Sofia experiences. And I love that she's a fan, because Sofia is a great role model - she embraces her uniqueness, breaks traditional gender stereotypes, and encourages kindness. It's a wonderful show for us to watch together, and it genuinely makes me happy that Essley enjoys it so much. Now that Essley is out of school for the summer we've been trying to work more on craft projects at home, and I decided it would be fun for us to make something together inspired by Sofia. While we both love to create, we'd never made jewelry together - and Essley had never made it at all. One of the things I most adore about Sofia is her consistent drive to try new things, which motivates Essley to try new things too. So in honor of this, we set aside an afternoon to make our own personalized necklaces inspired by Sofia's Amulet of Avalor. Sofia's amulet is pretty awesome - it rewards her with special powers (like the ability to communicate with animals) for doing good deeds, and does less fun things (like makes her temporarily croak like a toad after boasting) as a means to teach important lessons. After making our special matching necklaces, we could wear them for the FriYAY premiere of Sofia the First this week. Essley absolutely loved this idea, and we had so much fun. And today I'm teaming up with our pals over at Disney Junior to show you how we made them, so you can create them with your little one too!

Makes 2 necklaces.

YOU WILL NEED:
2 purple faux gem pendants
Plastic purple, lavender and pink beads in a uniform size with large holes (we used about 70 medium beads per necklace)
Variety of 4-10 decorative beads
8 letter beads (4 for each necklace in first letter of wearer's name)
Elastic beading string
Scissors
Optional: toggle clasps (we didn't use these, but if you have older kids you may want to beading wire and clasps instead of elastic string)

If your little one has never strung beads before, I recommend starting out by just letting them play around and practice for a while. That's what we did, until Essley got the hang of doing it herself. Next, arrange your beads in the order you'd like them to appear on each necklace. Or it can also be fun to simply let your daughter or son choose how they want them to be arranged as they go - it allows them to express themselves and their creativity, even if it's less than "perfect." (I arranged mine in advance, and Essley made hers up as she went, with a little guidance from me.) Next, cut two pieces of string (about 22-24 inches long), one for each necklace. Slide your pendant over the string so it's centered, then add two of the decorative beads on either side of it, followed a mixture of the rest of the beads evenly on either side until there is only an inch of two of string remaining on each side. (Tip: Be sure to include your letter beads in the bottom half of the necklace design so they're not hidden behind the neck when being worn.) When the necklace is complete, tie the ends together with several knots, trim the excess string, and slide beads over the knot to hide the knots. That's it! We made Essley a matching bracelet with the leftover beads too.  It's an easy project but can still fill up an afternoon, especially if you and your little one go shopping at the craft store beforehand (one of Essley's favorite parts).

Essley is all sorts of excited to wear her own handmade Sofia necklace for the premiere of the new season (in four days - June 30th at 9 AM on the Disney Channel - but who's counting) - and I'm pretty stoked to wear mine too, if we're being honest here. Disney Junior actually has all new episodes of a bunch of our favorite shows this summer, every FriYAY (get it? get it?) morning on Disney Channel (from around 6-10 AM), including Mickey and the Roadster Racers, Puppy Dog Pals, Lion Guard, Elena of Avalor (another of our favorites), and, of course, Sofia the First. We love having these Friday morning shows to look forward to - it's a fun, educational way to start the morning in the summertime before we head out to play at the park or pool. I always take Fridays off work to spend with the kids, and kickstarting the day with Disney Junior FriYAY programming makes the day feel special, and reminds us that the weekend is about to begin. When my husband is off the road with the band on Fridays, it's something we can all do together as a family, with shows we all enjoy (yes, even the adults).

You can find Disney Junior shows are on two different television channels: Disney Junior (a dedicated channel that runs Disney Junior shows all day long), and Disney Channel (which airs Disney Junior shows during the morning block). New episodes, like our FriYAY faves, usually air first on the Disney Channel. We hope you enjoy the premiers coming up as much as I know we will! You can also find Disney Junior goodness on their Facebook page and on their YouTube.

What is your little one's (or your!) favorite Disney Junior Show? Have any of you made jewelry with your kids?

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Disney Junior. Thank you for supporting the brands that help make Bubby and Bean possible.

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