The Rainbow Loom Charms & Bracelets Have Taken Over!

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What is it about loom bands / Rainbow Loom charms and bracelets that make them so addicting?!

Since I homeschool my daughter, many of the popular fads among young people kind of bypass her. By the time she does find out about them from her friends, the fad has died down and my daughter only had a mild interest in them. However, it’s been different with these rainbow loom bands.

How the Rainbow Loom / Loom Bands Addiction Began

Munchkin went to visit a relative this summer in Georgia. Since they would be attending a special event with a lot of people, my relative sent her a simple loom kit to make bracelets as gifts. Munchkin taught herself how to do four different designs based on the included instructions. Within a few weeks she made some fifty bracelets! The girl was on fire!

She arrived safely in Georgia and had a great time during her 10-day stay. At the end of her trip, my relative gave Munchkin an actual Rainbow Loom and her remaining supply of rubber bands to use when she came home. At that point bracelets weren’t enough to satisfy her looming needs.

Leveling Up Her Loom Charms & Bracelets

At first, she found some patterns to make small veggies like peppers and carrots. Then, she decided to make different varieties of flowers for a house-bound friend. After she made a couple dozen of those, it was time to move on. More complicated bracelets and headbands were made but that still wasn’t enough. Finally, we found a rainbow loom video of how to make three smiling peas in a pod. They looked so adorable! However, the pattern was quite an intricate one and I had too much work to share my laptop screen while she made her pea(s).

I’m so glad we had the Acer Iconia Tab 8. This is one of the newest Intel Tablets and it’s small, light, fast, and has good graphics. With no problems at all, Munchkin was able to seamlessly stream the video to make her little loom band charm.

Of course, with that many loom bands in the mix, a lot of pausing and rewinding was expected. Still the Tab 8 had no problem handling her usage load (the battery did get drained pretty fast though). Thanks to that, she finally finished one. Turns out that the charm wasn’t that little after all and measured about 1-inch in diameter!

Instead of using up all her green for the other two peas and the pod, she decided to head in a slightly different direction. Once she had the basic idea down, Munchkin felt comfortable venturing into other produce. Using the video each time, she was able to create this happy collection:

Taking Advantage of a Change in Interest

Lately, Munchkin has taken a short break from her looming efforts. I have to say that I’m kind of relieved as it was getting to the point where we had rainbow loom bracelets and charms everywhere. It also means that I can confiscate the Acer Iconia Tab 8 so I can play some serious games of Picross/Nonograms during my downtime. I’m sure that won’t last long because she’ll find some reason to take the tablet back but, in the meantime, I’m going to enjoy it.

Did your child get swept up by the loom bands craze?