ARTISTS - From left: Mila, Layla, Raehlyn, and Mackenzie all took part in the New Richland Library's Bead Art Keychains class on Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026.
'They'll get better the more they do'
New Richland Public Library runs Bead Art Keychain Jan. 29
New Richland Public Library runs Bead Art Keychain Jan. 29
Wed, 02/04/2026 - 11:45pm
The New Richland Public Library held a Bead Art Keychain class for children on Thursday, Jan. 29. It was hosted by the Waseca Public Library’s visiting librarian Brianna Bleeker, who said, “This is our chance to help other libraries with activities like these, and they’re fun to do.”
Bleeker is the children’s librarian for the Waseca Le Sueur Library System. She said, “I made one of these keychains two weeks ago, so I would be better equipped to teach the children how to do theirs. I did mine in 25 minutes, but I think the kids, especially with their first one, might take 35 to 40 minutes, but they’ll get better the more they do.” A few of the other librarians made examples for the children to model their projects after, including a crayon and an owl. Said Bleeker, “We needed examples because that makes it easier to explain to the kids what to do visually.”
There were plastic totes on the table with almost 10,000 different beads and 20 different colors. Bleeker explained, “Some of these beads are from other projects that were disassembled. The new ones were purchased off of Amazon.”
For these projects, Bleeker visits up to eight different libraries, and each month there are numerous projects going on at all of them. Said Bleeker, “Each year we introduce two new projects for kids aged 3 to 5; two new ones for the pre-teens and two more for the teenagers and adults. That way we don’t get too repetitive and, of course, the older the child, the more complicated the project.”
Bleeker checked the time. The event was supposed to have started at 4 p.m., but with no children there by 4:20 p.m., she said, “Sometimes we have no shows, but for the majority we’ll get at least one person.” There were children in the library, a boy and a girl, younger kids who were pushing little toy tractors or playing with dolls quietly on the floor.
But as it turns out, a group of girls did arrive. They got there just at 4:30 p.m., and Bleeker was able to put on her bead art keychains demonstration in fine style.