Hama Beads Disney Princess Gift Box

...birthday I bought her the Hama Beads Disney Princess gift box. She had previously brought home some simple hama bead designs when she was at nursery but this was our experience of having them at home.

The gift set contains 3000 beads, 3 plastic grids to work the design on, one pattern template and two ironing sheets. If you are successful you should have everything you need in order to make an Ariel, a Jasmine and a small fish and ...
...explain to me how the Hama bead designs actually work and to point out that we weren't actually missing anything after all!

If you are not familiar with hama beads this is how they work. You have to place your plastic pegboard over a design template. You then place the different coloured beads on the pegs and lo and behold you will have created a picture! Once the picture is complete, you place an ironing sheet over it and then press ... more

My five year old daughter is very much into everything that she can lay her hands on to do with Disney Princesses. She also loves making things so when it was her birthday I bought her the Hama Beads Disney Princess gift box. She had previously brought home some simple hama bead designs when she was at nursery but this was our experience of having them at home.

The gift set contains 3000 beads, 3 plastic grids to work the design on, one pattern template and two ironing sheets. If you are successful you should have everything you need in order to make an Ariel, a Jasmine and a small fish and bird. There were some very scant instructions on the back of the box which I have to confess I overlooked to start with. Because of this I did not realise that the plastic boards are reusable and there was a short while when I felt annoyed that bits were actually missing. It was down to my five year old to explain to me how the Hama bead designs actually work and to point out that we weren't actually missing anything after all!

If you are not familiar with hama beads this is how they work. You have to place your plastic pegboard over a design template. You then place the different coloured beads on the pegs and lo and behold you will have created a picture! Once the picture is complete, you place an ironing sheet over it and then press carefully. All the plastic beads will fuse together and you will be able to remove it as a complete shape from the board.

This set is lovely and the finished princesses are exactly as they are in the Disney films. My daughter was delighted when she opened this present although at just five she did find it all a bit fiddly even though five plus is the recommended age for this set. I have to admit that my bigger fingers find it even more difficult to place the beads carefully in the exact spots.

All the beads come in a plastic bag that can be emptied in a tray. All the colours are all mixed in together which my daughter finds quite problematic. This is actually the only bit that she asks my help for! Luckily, the beads are only in basic colours because if we were trying to sort lots of different shades I do think we would be in trouble!

After her initial excitement, my daughter did not really bother with this set for a few months but now at almost five and a half she is well in to it. She is very proud of the fact that she has completed the smaller fish and the bird and she is halfway through making Ariel. This is no mean feat as there are a lot of beads to place even on the smaller pictures and there is nothing to keep the plastic board from moving while it is placed over the pattern. If you are not careful you could easily end up placing all the beads in the wrong places. Luckily this does not seem to have happened yet!

The instructions for ironing were not great - and this is obviously something that an adult should do. There were some instructions inside the box but these seem to be generic for all hama bead designs. That is not really a problem in itself apart from the fact that it tells you that you have to have your iron on different heats depending on whether the beads you are using are mini, midi or maxi. I wasn't sure and there was nothing on my actual box to guide me so I just plumped for the middle size and heat and crossed my fingers! Luckily this seemed to work for us!

The set is quite expensive as it can currently be found on Amazon for £12.60. This may seem quite a bit but the kit will keep them busy for weeks so it will be money well spent. I have noticed that there is another set with Snow White, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty and I think Father Christmas might be bringing that one in his sack!

I think that the age guide is right and my daughter has actually surprised me with her patience and her accuracy. She really loves her finished results too. Although I have one or two niggles about the instructions you can easily get over these and then I think this is an excellent craft kit for a young girl. 

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