How to Make Boondoggle Keychains DIY!

Make your own Boondoggle Keychains! 

Oh my goodness you guys.  I love Boondoggle! I was pretty involved in a little business venture around the age of 10 making keychains. 

Learn how to make your own boondoggle keychains using plastic lacing cord for the perfect Summer craft!

I would buy boondoggle lace at the store and sell it by the yard on the playground at elementary school.  

I sold it by the yard so kids could make their own boondoggle keychains.  I can't remember selling actual finished product though, because the real fun is in the making them.

Some people call these boondoggle keychains scoubidou's, craft lace, plastic weaving, scoobies, plastic lacing cord, gimps, gymps, plastic lanyards, and more!

What do you call them?

I love the bright and vibrant colors!  

Supplies Needed for Boondoggle Keychains:

Boondoggle Lace
Lanyard Hooks
Jewelry Pliers

Or

Get started with this Boondoggle kit!

I bring boondoggle supplies to family reunions, summer camps and family campouts.  

It's great for kids and teenagers...it keeps them busy with their hands while we play outside, watch movies or just wait for dinner.  I had kids starting about age 5.  

They needed some help holding it while they weaved the laces, but everyone felt successful! ~  The first step in learning how to make boondoogle keychains is to start with the basic 2 strand weaves.  

I always teach the square first, if the person gets it down, we can move on.

 

How to Start a Boondoggle Keychain:

I always start the boondoggle off for everyone.  It's just the hardest part and I want to keep it a positive environment. 

I save the lanyard hook for the end...it's the reward for finishing the project.
 

Here's how to start a 2 strand: For the ease of taking pictures, I used painters tape to hold the laces in place while photographing.  But basically you will just hold the cords in your hand while starting it.   

Cut 2 strands of lacing cord 1 yard each.

• Place them like a plus sign.
• Take the lace that is resting on the bottom of the plus and loop the top lace down and the bottom lace up.
• Next take the lace from each side, weave the lace over the blue lace and then under the second blue lace.
• Repeat for the lace on the other side, weave it under the blue lace and then through the last remaining loop.  This last weave through should secure the laces

(refer to picture below)

 

Once pulled tight it will look like this!  Then pull it a little tighter.  

I pull 2 laces in each hands and then rotate and pull again, that way all the laces are pulled evenly and tight.

How to Weave a Square Boondoggle:

Now we can proceed to the SQUARE weaving.  This is the simplest and the one I recommend starting with. Pull tight from the starting knot.  

Flip the pink laces over themselves.  Weave the blue lace at the bottom over the first pink lace and under the second pink lace.  

Next weave the blue lace at the top over the closest pink lace and under (or through) the last pink lace.  

This secures all the laces in place and pull tight.  (refer to the picture below) With 1 yard of lace, you can make about a 4 inch keychain in the square pattern.

How to Weave a Round Boondoggle:

Let’s move on to the ROUND weaving.  After mastering the square boondoggle, try the round. It starts with the exact same 2 strand weave from the beginning.  

Now instead of bringing the laces straight across, they are wrapped on an angle. The blue top lace crosses diagonally across the pink one next to it.  

Then the pink one is brought diagonally across the next blue lace while crossing over the last blue lace.  Then the blue lace you just crossed over is brought up diagonally across the next pink lace.  

The final pink lace flips over the blue lace and then through the loop that the first blue lace made.  (refer to the picture below) 

It’s still a square weaving pattern, but done on an angle which will make the whole thing twist around.

 

How to Finish Off a Boondoggle Keychain:

This pink and blue one has a fun combination of 3 round weaves and then 3 square weaves to give it a cool pattern. 

  Now let’s finish it off.  Instead of a bulky knot, there’s a beautiful way to finish it off.  Stop weaving when the laces are about 4 inches long, they will be uneven.

Do one last weave and don’t pull it tight.  Then take each loose lace and wrap it around the lace to it’s left and then weave it up through the center of the laces.  

Repeat for all 4 laces. Then pull tight.

 

Final Step: Add the Lanyard Hook

Next use pliers to hook the lanyard on the end.

 

Perfection! Now you have the perfect little Scoubidou! Scoobie, Gymp, Plastic lanyard, or whatever you call it!

I love making these short ones for the perfect zipper pulls for hooking on backpacks, jackets or even sleeping bags!

 

Just like Deb on Napoleon Dynamite--you can go door to door selling handwoven handicrafts!

Or you can make a finity of these at scout camp! They are so much fun to make!

 

And then you can hook them on your keys like a boss! Or, if you are like me, they all get put on one keychain as a sampler.

 

Once you are comfortable with the 2 strand weaves, it is just a matter of adding additional strands. These boondoggle keychains all have 3 strands:

 

And these boondoggle keychains have 4 strands:

And the boondoggle keychains on the left has 5 and the one on the right has 6 strands.

 

So much fun! It's the fidget spinners of the early 1990's! 

Did you ever make boondoggle?  Which is your favorite!?

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