How to make a cute dinosaur keyring for instant backpack bling
Simple and fun, these DIY dinosaur keychains are a great way to add instant bling to a school backpack. They are perfect as a gift or as a summer holiday activity and each one is unique and fun.
The new school year is looming and our Little Dinosaur Aficionado is more than a little excited about starting school. She’s a T-Rex spinning in circles chasing her tail while trying to put on her backpack adorned with a cute dinosaur keyring. But much smaller. And less likely to knock you out while she does it.
We don’t know anyone in her class yet, but there is an excellent chance that there will be more than one dinosaur lover. More than one bilingual child. And more than one child with exactly the same bag.
This DIY dinosaur keychain is a fun gift or craft and adds instant backpack bling to help quickly identify your child’s bag.
Trixie’s Dino Crafts to Try
Title: Cute dinosaur keyring
Craft: A fun keychain, with a dinosaur of course
Dinosaur: Whichever you choose
Best for: School backpacks, guest favours and activities for dinosaur birthday parties; first-day of-school gifts
Ease: 5 out of 5 – get those paint brushes or pens out and get busy!
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A DIY dinosaur keychain and bag bling
There is lots of inspiration out there for DIY keyrings with toy animals, but few with dinosaurs. Why?
This cute dinosaur keyring is an easy way to make a unique bag identifier for your child’s bag. It also adds a little bit of their personality with little effort.
Are you throwing a dinosaur birthday party? These cute dinosaur keyrings make great guest gifts. If your guests are old enough, you could even have DIY dinosaur keychain painting and contracting as an activity at the party.
What to put on your cute dinosaur keyring
We made two and I think both are cute.
The first I made as a stocking stuffer for our LDA for Christmas. She has been using it on her kindergarten bag. It has:
- Pink Parasaurolophus, covered in glitter
- Heart-shaped ring
- Blue tassel (purchased, not handmade)
- A pink pompom.
The second cute dinosaur keyring for her school bag is a little different. It has:
- Painted wooden beads of various sizes; we used some geometric beads too
- A normal round keyring
- A brightly painted Pachycephalosaurus, painted to match the beads.
Other things you can use to make your keyring include:
- Pony beads in various colours
- Letter beads – to spell out their name
- Seed beads – you can even create little flowers, for example, out of them (if your dinosaur is a herbivore, of course)
- Clay beads, spacer beads…
- (Faux) Leather cord
- Homemade tassels
- A bow
- Heart charms (because your dinosaur fan really, really loves dinosaurs).
While there are many options online, they are often only available in bulk. Our tip: check out your local craft store for inspiration.
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Tips for making a cute dinosaur keyring
The tips depend on what elements you wish to add to your cute dinosaur keyring.
For your dinosaur – the most important element of the keyring: Screw your eye screw into the dinosaur before painting it, or before giving it to your LDA to paint. The hook makes it easier to hold the dinosaur while painting. If you have trouble getting the hook to go in, use a hammer and a small nail to make a small hole first.
Spray paint gives the quickest and best coverage (we used it for our pink dinosaur). For our colourful dinosaur (and for the beads) we used acrylic paint pens. This was easier and more exact than painting, though we did need to add a third coat.
If you are worried about wear and tear, especially with glitter, use a sealant. We recommend a spray one.
To make painting the beads easier, thread them onto a skewer. If you have some, stab the end of the skewer into polystyrene to hold it up. We suspended our skewer (and beads) between two cups. This also makes drying easier.
When threading your beads, check the size of the opening of your smallest bead to make sure the needle and thread will pass through.
If you are attaching tassels, pompoms, etc with rings, be sure to close the ring tight with a pair of pliers or even a soldering iron. If not, make sure you have a couple of extras for when something inevitably falls off…
Make a cute dinosaur keyring to start the new school year!
Simple and fun, these DIY dinosaur keychains are a great way to add instant bling to your school backpack or bag. With a variety of easy ideas, from beads to ribbons, and so many fun dinosaurs to choose from, no two will be the same. They are perfect as a gift or as a summer holiday activity and are quite fun to make, too!
What will you put on your DIY dinosaur keychain?
Cute dinosaur keyring
These cute DIY dinosaur keyrings are an easy way to add instant blink to any bag.
Materials
- Two keyrings
- Two small toy dinosaurs
- Craft paint, spray paint or acrylic paint pens
- 2 eye hooks
- Emboidery thread or hemp thread
- Glitter (optional)
- Mod podge or glue
- Wooden beads (optional)
- Small tassles (optional)
- Small pompoms (optional)
Tools
- Paintbrush
- Hammer and small nail
- Wooden skewers
- A block of polystyrene or something similarly porous
- A large needle
- Scissors
- Mod podge (optional)
Instructions
- Screw an eye hook into the top of each dinosaur. If you are having difficulties getting the hook to go in, use the hammer and small nail to make a small starter hole.
- Paint your dinosaurs in the colours and patterns that your wish. If you want to add glitter, wait for the paint to dry and paint the dinosaur with a thin layer of mod podge, then sprinkle the glitter over it. Shake off any excess and set aside to dry.
- Thread the beads onto the skewer and stab the end into the polystyrene. Paint the beads in your chosen colours and patterns.
- When everything is dry, begin construction. Cut your thread about four times the length that you actually want. Fold the thread in half and secure it to the keyring using an anchor knot.
- Thread the two ends of the thread through the needle then thread on the beads. If you like, tie a small knot in the thread between each bead and the next. Thread on any pompoms or tassles you wish to use.
- Finally, thread on the dinosaur via the eye hook and secure it with a double or tripple knot. Thread the end of the thread back through the last bead then cut of any excess thread. This will help prevent the knot from coming undone.
Notes
Make sure the eyes in your eye hooks are wide enough to thread through your keyring.
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