If you’ve been to a craft store, then you’ve probably seen packs or tubs of these tiny colorful cylindrical pegs. These are called Perler beads, but are also known as melty beads.
But what exactly are they and how do you craft things with them?
Below is a brief description of what Perler beads are and how a melty bead pattern is made, as well as easy Perler bead patterns for toddlers, preschoolers, and older kids.
I’ve also included a bonus pattern for kids who want something a bit more challenging.
Note: Most of the patterns in this list are just pictures of the Perler bead designs on a grid. The colored squares represent the beads required for each design.
What Are Perler Beads?
Perler beads are small plastic fusible beads. While Perler is the term often used to refer to these beads because it’s the name of the #1 brand to manufacture them, they’re commonly known as melty beads.
Melty beads come in a variety of colors and are usually bought in packs or tubs.
How Do You Create Perler Bead Patterns?
To make melty bead patterns, a plastic pegboard is needed. Beads are arranged on a plastic pegboard to form a desired pattern. The beads are then melted to each other using an iron.
To learn more about Perler beads and how to use them, here’s a comprehensive beginner’s guide from the YouTube gamer named Faris.
Here’s What You’ll Need:
– Perler beads
– Pegboards
– Clothes iron (preferably a mini iron)
– Parchment/ironing paper
– Tweezers (optional)
Warning: Make sure a grown-up supervises kids as the beads are a choking hazard. A grown-up should help with the ironing as well for (what I hope are) obvious reasons.
11 Easy Animals and Nature Perler Bead Patterns
Let’s start with some easy Perler bead ideas for your toddlers.
1. Easy Sea Creatures
All living creatures came from the sea. So it’s not entirely inappropriate to start with marine creatures!
The fact that land animals originated from the sea might be unimaginable for some, but that’s what evolutionary science tells us.
Perler has a trio of sea beings, two colorful fish and a funny octopus.
2. Land Creatures Perler Beads
Animals are amazing crafts to start with because these friendly faces can absorb the minds of your little ones!
Craft Project Ideas presents familiar figures from the savannah and forest.
3. Rainbow Perler Bead Pattern
If your toddlers want to use more colors for one pattern, then try this simple rainbow from Steamsational. To make achieving the shape easier, get a round pegboard.
4. Easy Snoopy and Woodstock Perler Bead Pattern
Here’s a familiar face that adults will recognize. Toddlers won’t have a hard time making Snoopy and Woodstock from Perler Bead Planet.
These two characters are easy to make as they require only a few beads and are predominantly white (Snoopy) and yellow (Woodstock).
5. TMNT Perler Bead Pattern
This Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle bead pattern by Teacher Scout Mom is easy-to-do as it only requires a few beads.
Let’s not forget the other two ninja turtles with a cooler color; blue for Leonardo, and purple for Donatello to complete the set!
6. Dino and Volcano Perler Bead Patterns
Who doesn’t love dinosaurs? This adorable pattern shared by Nikki makes a cute dinosaur and a fierce volcano to balance things out.
Feel free to change up the spots on the dinosaur as you see fit. Or perhaps have the lava spill further down the volcano.
More types of extinct creatures can be found in these dinosaur Perler bead patterns.
7. Unicorn Perler Beads
Bill at Free Beads Patterns has created a wonderfully simple unicorn design that just about anyone can follow.
It’s beautiful and easy to make and you can swap the colors to make a whole gang of unicorns or just check out these 23 other unicorn perler bead patterns for inspiration.
8. Perry the Platypus Perler Bead Pattern
“Perry the Platypus!” – Heinz Doofenshmirtz from Phineas and Ferb
Cranking up the difficulty a bit from the toddler level, your preschooler can create this Perry the Platypus (shared by local_eMokid) and help thwart Dr. Doofenshmirtz’s schemes!
The design is relatively simple and requires few beads and only a little color variation.
9. Angry Birds Pig Perler Bead Pattern
That’s one chunky boy that klutzwoof5 delivers to us.
Now here’s a more challenging (but still doable) Perler bead design for preschoolers, the Pig from the popular franchise, Angry Birds.
The two shades of green for this design will also help kids learn color shade recognition.
10. Piranha Plant (from Mario) Perler Bead Pattern
This is a piranha plant from Mario, Yoshi’s favorite snack. Presented by dazzle84, this pattern would require your kids to use two square pegboards.
Help your kids gain some confidence as they work through a slightly more challenging pattern. You may have to help out with the leaves!
11. Easy 3D Cactus Perler Bead Pattern
If you or your kid want to take the training wheels off, then this 3D cactus Perler bead craft by Karen Kavett DIY is a great way to start venturing into more challenging designs.
This particular pattern involves connecting a few different melty bead designs together, so think of it like a puzzle that you’re making the pieces for!
5 Easy Vehicle Perler Bead Patterns
12. Blue Car Pattern
A car may be complex but your kids don’t need to be a mechanic to fix this blue car pattern by Perler.
13. Six-Wheeler Truck
Vehicles capture the attention of boys and girls, and the mighty trucks are not an exception.
With this pattern made by datteber, they can pretend to transport stuff from one room to the next.
14. Ice Cream Truck
The kids on the block are sure to trail behind this pink truck once they hear its irresistible noises.
I imagine this ice cream truck by jollyfrog to be filled with all sorts of goodies: vanilla ice cream, watermelon popsicles, chocolate fudge… you name it!
15. Yellow Airplane
The excitement to fly an airplane is present in almost every child.
I wouldn’t be surprised if this pattern shared by PNG Egg is the first one that your little human picks.
16. All Aboard!
A magnificent boat will stir things a bit in your toddlers’ bathtub adventures, complementing the rubber duckies and empty shampoo bottles.
StaleCheese paints their boat red with white sails. Of course, these can be converted according to the sigil of your little princes and princesses.
10 Easy Perler Bead Patterns from Pop Culture
17. Minion Perler Bead Pattern
Made by Kandi Pad, another easy design with little color variation is this banana-loving Minion from Despicable Me.
While it does seem to need a bit more beads than the others, the color separation on this melty bead pattern is still simple enough for a preschooler.
18. Lightsaber Perler Bead Pattern
Here’s a simple lightsaber Perler bead pattern your toddler can easily do. Don’t let kids limit themselves with green, blue, or red, though.
Other lightsaber colors include purple for Mace Windu, which JeffDaPotato has included, and black for the Darksaber. Or your kids can make their own colored lightsaber!
19. Pokeball Perler Bead Pattern
Another Perler bead design for preschoolers is this Poke ball presented by QDCrafts.
It’s really easy as it’s a simple design with just 3 colors (black, white, and red).
If you’re looking for more complex patterns or other creature to make, check out my full article on Pokémon Perler beads for more inspiration.
20. Merida Perler Bead Pattern
Merida from Brave might be a bit challenging as the two shades of orange for the hair can be a bit difficult to distinguish from one another, which will help teach your preschooler how to differentiate shades of the same color.
Also, the design by Manon_1324 doesn’t use a lot of beads, so it’s still an easy one for preschoolers to do!
21. Batman Perler Bead Pattern
Here’s another great superhero from the DC Comic universe – Batman!
A design by shared by groundhog7s, this pattern uses tons of black and grey beads, so while the pattern shape may be challenging, the color variations still make it somewhat easy for older kids.
And here are 31 more Batman perler beads so you can pretty much have Batman in any pose you want.
22. Captain America Perler Bead Pattern
Hailing from from the age of the Second World War, here’s the star-spangled man with a plan, Captain America himself, brought to you by inkedbeneath5.
Now, this melty bead pattern uses quite a number of beads, but the color combination is still simple enough for older kids and beginners alike.
Meet the other members of the Avengers in these Marvel Perler beads.
23. Baby Yoda
Recreating perhaps the cutest scene in The Mandalorian, datteber shares this Baby Yoda pattern.
No other Perler beads will take you on a space adventure quite like these Star Wars Perler bead patterns.
24. Frodo Baggins
Frodo Baggins may be the most recognizable character from The Lord of the Rings (besides Gandalf, of course).
SusanGuinto shares a pattern of Frodo, ready to protect the ring even at the cost of his life.
25. Gandalf from the Lord of the Rings
How could Frodo Baggins ever hope to reach Mordor without the aid of Gandalf?
This Gandalf by Patterns and Critters Gallery may look unassuming, but the white-bearded wizard is keeping more than just a few tricks up his sleeve.
26. The Boy Who Lived
Even if I were put under a spell, I’d still recognize this Harry Potter pattern by Swish And Stitch.
The colors of Gryffindor are shown proudly on his red and yellow scarf. The only thing missing is the scar, which doesn’t fit in this tiny and easy pattern.
No need to take Platform 9 and 3/4; these Harry Potter Perler bead patterns will take you to the Wizarding World.
Get Ready, Get Set – Iron Away With Easy Perler Bead Patterns!
Create a simple rainbow or a 3D plant with these easy Perler bead patterns for kids! Don’t stop with just these designs, though – let your kids’ creativity flow!
And if you and your kids enjoyed these Perler beads patterns, then you’re probably going to love these diamond painting kits for kids.
For more Perler beads, head on to these other lists: