Make A Friendship Bracelet | Tate Kids

Home » How To Tie Off A Friendship Bracelet » Make A Friendship Bracelet | Tate Kids

Maybe your like

Make a Friendship Bracelet

Create an arty bracelet to wear or give to a friend!

1.5 hours
Photograph of a pair of hands making a friendship bracelet

Want to make a friendship bracelet? We'll show you how!

You make the bracelet by tying lots of small knots. This creates a pattern. You can have lines, zig-zags and even arrows! This is a type of weaving. Lots of artists use weaving to create their art.

One artist who did a lot of weaving was Anni Albers. Here she is using a large machine to create big textile patterns.

Left Right
Anni Albers Card Weaving at Black Mountain College Black Mountain College Photograph Collection, State Archives of North Carolina, Western Regional Archives, Asheville, N.C.

Anni Albers Card Weaving at Black Mountain College Black Mountain College Photograph Collection, State Archives of North Carolina, Western Regional Archives, Asheville, N.C.

Photograph of artist Anni Albers at the Bauhaus

Life at the Bauhaus, 1928 Photographer unknown

Anni Albers studied weaving and textiles at the Bauhaus art school in Germany. She believed that textiles are a type of art and as important as painting or sculpture!

Anni travelled a lot in her life. She spent some time in South America. These trips influenced the patterns and designs of her textiles. Have you been somewhere which has inspired you?

Ready to make a friendship bracelet?

Photograph of materials needed

You will need:

  • 4 different colours of thread (64cm of each)
  • Scissors
  • Sellotape

Let's get started

Photograph of making a friendship bracelet

1. Select 4 colours of thread

Photograph of making a friendship bracelet

2. Cut 64cm of each colour

Photograph of making a friendship bracelet

3. Tie the 4 pieces of thread together in a knot at one end

Photograph of making a friendship bracelet

4. Stick the knot to a flat surface or use a safety pin

Photograph of bracelet making activity

5. Spread out the 4 threads

Photograph of bracelet making activity

6. Place the 1st thread over the top of the 2nd thread to make a loop

Photograph of bracelet making activity

7. Gently pull the 1st thread through the loop. This creates a knot at the top of the 2nd thread

Photograph of bracelet activity

8. Repeat steps 6 & 7. You should now have 2 knots at the top of the 2nd thread

Photograph of bracelet activity

9. Repeat this, tying 2 knots at the top of the 3rd and 4th thread. Keep going until there are 2 knots on every thread

Photograph of bracelet activity

10. Repeat the double knot technique using the far left thread. This will be a new colour. move from left to right until the thread is in the far right position

Photograph of bracelet activity

11. Continue until the bracelet is long enough for your wrist

photograph of bracelet activity

12. Tie a knot at the end of the bracelet and cut off the extra string

Photograph of bracelet activity

13. All done and ready to give to a friend!

Photograph of bracelet activity

14. Look at all the other patterns you can make

Show us your friendship bracelets Share

More to explore

Photograph of loom activity
Learn to Weave
Try it
Quiz: Which Pop Artist Are You?
Play Black and white photograph of artist Anni Albers
Who is Anni Albers?
Read more Black and white photograph of the artist Salvador Dali
The Sensational Surrealism Quiz
Play Artwork Close

Tag » How To Tie Off A Friendship Bracelet