DIY Wind Chimes

Making wind chimes is a easy and fun activity for the summer! Your kids will love listening to them blowing all summer long. This is just one of the many Kids Crafts and Activities we are sharing this summer here on Skip to my Lou . Just check out this boredom buster idea list for even more inspiration. Welcome Marissa from Rae Gun Ramblings…

My 2 year old is wind chime obsessed. Most nights after dinner we’ve taken to going on walks and he gets SO excited when he sees a wind chime so I thought it would be fun to make one together.

Marissa from Rae Gun Ramblings where I blog about all things crafty, delicious, and bookish. I’m super excited to share an easy wind chime tutorial with you today!

For the little guys they will LOVE helping to decorate the “chimes” but will need a little help assembling the whole thing but if you have tweens they could probably do this project all on their own. It’s a great project since it’s something you can draw out to fill an afternoon or finish in less than an hour if you want.

What You Need

Metal Washer (I used 12 washes -3 strings of 2 and 2 strings of 3)
Fishing Wire
Acrylic Paint
Paint Brushes
Inside part of small plastic embroidery hoop (affiliate link)

What to Do

I used 12 washes (3 strings of 2 and 2 strings of 3)

Decorate your metal washers. These will become your “chimes”. I just let my little guy paint however he wanted surprisingly he really wanted to paint the hole part haha but I got him to get some on the actual washers. Let them dry and flip them over to decorate the other side. Acrylic paint drives fast so once we were done with one side on all of them we were able to flip them over.
Cut your fishing line into 40 inch long pieces (I did 5 strings of “chimes” so I cut 5).
Fold one string in half and string the first washer on by threading the two tail ends through the folded end.
Decide where you want the next washer to go and tie a knot with both strings (remember it’s folded). For me this was about 4 inches above the first washer. Next separate the strings and thread another washer on. It should be stopped but the knot you just tied.
Now with both strings together again tie a double knot to keep the washer in place.
Repeat for all your washers and strings. I did 3 strings of washers with 2 washers each and 2 strings with 3 each. If I had had more washers I would have done 3 strings with three but it worked out fine how I did it.
Once all your strings are prepped tie it onto your embroidery hoop. Make sure to just use the inner piece that is a full circle. Tie a couple times and feel free to loop your thread around to make it secure. Keep the long tails that you should have left (you will use this to form the hanging piece).
Now that all your strings are tied onto your hoop separate them so they are equally spaced. Gather them together and tie a double knot. Then 2 inches above that tie another double knot that.
You can now hang your wind chime from a hook using the space in between those two double knots.

My little boy is crazy obsessed with this! He’s proudly told everyone about the wind chime he made and he loves making it chime every time we go outside. We experimented with hanging it from a tree and from a shepherds hook we’re still trying to decide which we like best 🙂

I have plans to make another one with him but instead of paint I’m going to look for some stickers and then we’ll cover the whole washer with outdoor mod podge I’m really excited, now just to find some awesome stickers.

I had a blast hanging out I hope you stop by my blog Rae Gun Ramblings for tons of book fun, quick and easy recipes, and tons of creative ideas! Want more kids activities here are some of my favorites from my blog.