Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!

Wait. And penguins and seals and dolphins and dogs… And every other animal alive.

The newest trend to emerge started in elementary school but has received the approval of people of all ages.  Animal rubber band bracelets are just rubber bands that are formed into different shapes. They keep that shape as you put it on or take it off your wrist to trade it or just to admire the animal it forms.

The bracelets come in a multitude of different colors and shapes. You can even buy ones that glow-in-the-dark. Out of the 20 animal bracelets Sophomore Callie Hentz has, her favorite is the kangaroo. “That one is my favorite because not many people have it.”

The Dollar Store and Five Below are two popular places to pick up your own vibrant bracelets. Some online stores such as www.sillybandz.com and www.zanybands.com also sell these armbands.

Generally, these animal rubber band bracelets come in packs of ten or twenty-four and can cost anywhere from three to ten dollars, depending on where you buy them. All stores sell the packs depending on the theme of the bracelets. Just some of the themes include sea life, farm animals, spring, pirates, sports, dogs, camping and even the alphabet.

According to www.animalbracelets.net, these multicolored rubber bands hit the shelves at the Vestavia Hills Teacher Supply Store in Birmingham, Alabama during the summer of 2008. Teachers and administrators from local schools then found them and started to give them to their elementary school students as “awards for their tasks and accomplishments.”

Students from those elementary schools then started trading them with students from other schools and, soon after, kids all around the country were searching for these colorful little bracelets made popular by Silly Bandz, just one online store that sells them. “People are collecting them, wearing them, sharing them and generally creating a phenomenon over these little rubber bracelets,” www.animalbracelets.net said.

Even though many students enjoy these bracelets, some students don’t like them as much. “I couldn’t care less but I wear them just case I have them,” junior Sam Donald said. “They’re cool but I don’t have any,” junior Shaun Ostrowski said.

They started in elementary school but these bracelets are in getting popular in schools of all ages. “I think animal bracelets have gotten so popular because people like to copy people and everyone just started buying and trading them,” Hentz said. “Personally, I like animal bracelets because I don’t wear many bracelets, but the animal bracelets were something that I really liked, because they are just so cute.”

With the growing amount of fans these little bracelets are receiving, manufacturers need to speed up the production lines and if you’re still behind on the trend and don’t have your own animal bracelets, you better go pick some up before they’re completely gone.

While you’re collecting a whole kingdom of animal bracelets, give those elementary students some props. They did just start the next big craze. 

Caroline Spath can be reached for comment at [email protected].