Friendship bracelets can be colorful, sparkly, or even glow-in-the-dark. Where did they come from?
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The History of Friendship Bracelets
By Meg Richardson
From the December 2024 / January 2025 Issue
Learning Objective: Learn about the fascinating story of friendship bracelets.
Shell Bracelets
Long ago, people lived in caves. Their lives were different from ours. But one thing was the same. They made jewelry!
Scientists have found beads that are 142,000 years old! They are made of shells. People probably used the beads to make necklaces and bracelets.
Hair Bracelets
About 200 years ago, people began making friendship bracelets.
People started traveling far from their friends. There were no phones to stay in touch. People made bracelets to remember friends.
The bracelets were mementos. Often people made bracelets out of their friends’ hair!
String Bracelets
About 50 years ago, kids started making friendship bracelets. Kids wove bracelets out of string.
They used their friends’ favorite colors and designs. These woven bracelets became very popular.
Swiftie Bracelets
Kevin Mazur/TAS24/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management
Last year, friendship bracelets became popular again. That’s because of Taylor Swift. A lyric in one of her songs is “Make the friendship bracelets.” Her fans did! They made friendship bracelets with beads. An astronaut even wore friendship bracelets like this to space!
Next time you want to make your friends smile, give them a friendship bracelet!
Bracelet Timeline
Chip Clark/Smithsonian Institution (Shell); Penta Springs Limited/Alamy Stock Photo (Hair); Cavan Images/Alamy Stock Photo (String); ROSLAN RAHMAN/AFP via Getty Images (Beaded)
142,000 Years Ago: Shell jewelry
200 Years Ago: Hair bracelets
50 Years Ago: String bracelets
Today: Beaded bracelets
video
(1)
Activities
(3)
Skills Activities
Answer Key
(1)
In-Person Lesson Plan
Implementation
- Small group; whole group; independent reading
Pairings and Text Connections
- “The Friendship Bracelet Battle” (page 21)
This installment of “Pine School Pals” is also about friendship bracelets.
This installment of “Pine School Pals” is also about friendship bracelets.
Before-Reading Resources
- Text Preview Bookmarks
(10 minutes) Kids can cut out the nonfiction bookmark and use it to preview the text.
- Play the Vocabulary Slideshow
(5 minutes) Help students become familiar with vocabulary words they will see in the article.
(10 minutes) Kids can cut out the nonfiction bookmark and use it to preview the text.
(5 minutes) Help students become familiar with vocabulary words they will see in the article.
Suggested Reading Focus
Nonfiction text features (20 minutes)
- Point out the bar on the right side of the page. Do students know what this is? Hint: It says in the headline. (It’s a timeline.)
- Explain that a timeline shows the order in which things happened. You can see how long ago each thing happened on the arrow.
After-Reading Skills Practice
(15 minutes for each activity)
- Quiz: Comprehension check
- Design Your Own Friendship Bracelet: Students can draw and write about their own friendship bracelet designs.
After-Reading Video
- Watch a video of the author of this article discussing her love of friendship bracelets!
Text-to-Speech