Perler Bead Pac Man

I loved this project, and I’ll do it again, maybe with a different theme. The program was technically called, “Nintendo Pixel Art” but by the end of the program, tweens were having fun making their own designs. It’s easy to create your own patterns on graph paper, and Perler beads are fairly cheap. It also takes a long time to use an entire bucket of beads, so we have leftovers for next time!

We purchased two kits, which gave us assorted trays to arrange the beads on. Once they finalized their design, they brought it to me, and I ironed it for a minute or two. It worked out really well. The program lasted for an hour and a half (perfect, for my group), and there was minimal prep and clean-up.
Things I learned during this project:

• If you leave the iron on the item too long, it created little holes in the design (see Ms. Pac Man)
• Use the wax paper included in the kit, if you buy a kit. For some reason, it works a lot better than the stuff from the grocery store.