Who doesn't love cute little turtles! This beaded turtle keychain is a fun way to create your own little swimming friend with pony beads and cord. Its outstretched legs and rounded shell make it a natural fit for turtle, water turtle and sea turtle lovers, while the same little fellow can just as easily appeal to anyone looking for a tortoise or cute animal craft.
Add your finished turtle to a keychain, keyring, bag, backpack or zipper pull, or make one as a handmade gift for a turtle lover. These little beaded turtles are also fun for summer camp and group crafts, party and festival giveaways, fundraisers, or turtle and sea life themed activities.
Looking for a different turtle? We have other beaded turtle keychain patterns too, including designs with different shapes and styles. Take a look at the other turtles and choose the one that looks most like the turtle, sea turtle, water turtle or tortoise you have in mind.
Note: For your convenience and to assist you in being able to locate the material required for this project, some (or all) of the materials listed may be linked to other websites or contain affiliate links. All will open into a new window so that you don't lose this pattern page.
You will need one connector such as a 
Lanyard hook,
or any type of 
Key Ring.
Cord:
You will need about
2 yards of cord for your turtle.
There are lots of different types of cords you can use. We prefer a cord that is 1mm to 2mm thick because it helps your turtle keychain keep it's shape better. Alternatively, you can use a thinner cord and weave a little wire or a pipe cleaner into your keychain turtle to help it keep it's shape that way. Either way works just fine but you can experiment with it to see which method you prefer.
One good choice is
Monofilament Cord
or
2mm metallic cording. Other great choices would be jute or hemp cord, leather necklace cord, rattail cord, shoelaces, ribbon, paracord, or a strong jewelry cord like tigertail.
For ours, we used a white jute cord.
Beads needed:
34 - Neon Green Pony Beads.
29 - Green Glitter Pony Beads.
Other Things Needed:
GlueOptional: For a stiffer turtle you can include a little wire or a pipe cleaner with your cord to help keep it's shape
Beading Wire
OR
Pipe Cleaners
3. After finishing the pattern tie a double knot or surgeon's knot in the cords at the bottom and apply glue to secure.
(Optional) 4. Weave your wire or pipe cleaner through one of the widest rows in the middle of your beaded turtle keychain to make it stiffer and hold it's shape.
(Seed beads or E beads can be used in place of pony beads to create smaller characters.)
The illustration below uses red and blue to show you how each cord side is threaded into the beads. Your cord, of course, will be all the same color.
