Beaded Flag Neckerchief Slide for Cub Scouts

This month we made a beaded flag neckerchief slide with the Wolf Scouts. Between Flag Day (June 14), the Fourth of July, and working on Achievement 2 (Your Flag), we thought it was very appropriate.

(fuzzy cropped enlargement showing the slide my mom made) 

My mom made one back when she did scouts, but she used seed beads. For the life of me, I could not find patriotically colored seed beads locally. I did some googling and found this beaded neckerchief slide that used larger safety pins and pony beads.

In thinking it over, I realized the pony beads were probably a better option since 8-year-olds don't always have the best manual dexterity :)

I pretty much followed the directions and materials list I found here, but did make a few changes.

--- Instead of 6 beads on each pin, I only put 5- it was just too tight a fit. This had the stripes starting and ending on red, which is more authentic. We also used a few less red and white beads as a result.

--- I had four of the safety pins clipped into the piece of conduit instead of just one. I felt it made it more stable, but it also made it harder for the boys to close the pins themselves. You have to clip the pins into the conduit before putting the beads on, so it's a bit of a juggling act. I ended up closing the pins that were attached to the conduit for all the boys. Having the boys sit on the floor helped control the inevitable flying beads a bit.

Another inexpensive, quick, and fairly easy neckerchief slide- our kind of project!