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Hama Beads
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I remember years ago at an after school club being given these little bead things to make Christmas tree decorations. We were given circular shaped pegboards and told to put the beads on them in a Christmassy pattern. I made ... Read review
Advantages: fun, creative, aid childs development, good quality, fair prices Disadvantages: not something you want to knock over, can be a bit fiddly if you get small beads
I remember years ago at an after school club being given these little bead things to make Christmas tree decorations. We were given circular shaped pegboards and told to put the beads on them in a Christmassy pattern. I made the face of Father Christmas and was really proud of my design. I remember then being amazed when they ironed the design for us and removed ... ...brought a set of the Hama beads. My brother seemed impressed at the idea but was nowhere near as enthusiastic as me! By Boxing Day I had already made several designs!
I love these and wanted to write a review about them because if you haven't heard about them then get some and have a play!
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So what exactly are they?
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I remember years ago at an after school club being given these little bead things to make Christmas tree decorations. We were given circular shaped pegboards and told to put the beads on them in a Christmassy pattern. I made the face of Father Christmas and was really proud of my design. I remember then being amazed when they ironed the design for us and removed the design from the pegboard and it stayed in one piece! For years we used my Father Christmas face as a Christmas tree decoration and this Christmas as I hung it on the tree I said to my dad that I hadn't seen the kits used to make them in years and would love to have a go! A week later we were out Christmas shopping in Gamleys for my little brother and I saw a tub of the beads! I convinced my dad to get them for my brother (I knew he wouldn't have the patience but it meant that I could play with them!!) So my dad brought a set of the Hama beads. My brother seemed impressed at the idea but was nowhere near as enthusiastic as me! By Boxing Day I had already made several designs!
I love these and wanted to write a review about them because if you haven't heard about them then get some and have a play!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ So what exactly are they? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Now these aren't the easiest of things to describe so bare with me! The kit consists of lots of little brightly coloured beads. They are made from plastic and are cylindrical in shape. The beads come in three different sizes, mini, midi and maxi. The mini beads are 2.5mm in diameter and are recommended for children aged 10 and upwards as they are a lot more fiddly and need lots of patience and co-ordination, the midi beads are 5mm in diameter and are aimed at children aged 5 and over and the maxi beads are 10mm in diameter and are recommended for children 3 years and over as younger childrens concentration and co-ordination skills are not as developed as older children, so the larger size makes the beads easier to use with little hands. Due to the small size of these beads they are not suitable for children under 3 years old as children of that age would not posses the co-ordination skills required. The small beads can also pose a choking hazard so they should be kept well out the way of little children as they are far to easy to stick in their mouth, ears or up their nose! The kit also contains peg boards which the beads are to be put onto. These can come in all sorts of shapes and colours (although the colour of the board isn't relevant) and the boards can come as part of a set or can be brought separately. Examples of the peg board shapes are; teddy bears, circles, squares, hexagons, hearts, stars, people. Pretty much any shape you could imagine! A piece of 'ironing paper' is also provided which is used when ironing the design (more on that later!).
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ How do you do it? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Once you have decided on a pegboard to use you simply place it on a flat surface ready to begin your design. You place the beads on the pegboard until you have created the design you want, The beads are small and fiddly so it can be quite awkward to get them on the peg board and it does take a fair bit of patience! Once your design is complete, you need to place the piece of 'ironing paper' over the design and then apply a hot iron to the ironing paper for a few seconds using smooth, circular movements. The temperature of the iron depends on the size of the beads you have used, for the mini beads you should set the iron to the wool setting, for the midi beads you should set the iron to the cotton setting and for the maxi beads the iron should be set to the linen setting. As you iron the design the colours of the beads will show through the ironing paper to show that the ironing is completed. It is then advisable to leave the design to cool down for a bit (or it will go squidgy and become ruined and you will also burn yourself…trust me!) Once the design is dried you can remove it from the peg board and voila! You have your design! The pegboards and the ironing paper can be used again for future design but obviously the beads which you have just used wont be able to be used again as they are now part of a design!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ About Hama ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The company started of making plastic drink straws in 1991 when it was founded by Malte Haaning. The company moved on to making items such as cocktail sticks, skipping ropes, fly swatters, bird feeders etc (interesting stuff!) but when they realised that the demand for beads was so high they had a bash at making them. The different sized plastic beads were created and became so popular that in 1984, the HAMA name was registered as a trademark. Whilst reading about Hama on the website I found out that the name is derived from the name of the founder of the company: HA = the first two letters of his surname, and MA = the first two letters of his first name. I thought that was pretty interesting!! Anyway, basically hama began making more and more products using their beads and now sell products to over 50 countries world wide.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Other Hama products ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hama are constantly bringing out different shaped peg boards but as well as the standard hama beads and pegboards they sell 'Maxi stick' which are pegboards for little hands (kids aged 3 and up) where the kids actually insert pegs with sticks into a pinboard, Miss Hama which is a set that girls can use to make jewellery (or boys I suppose but it is aimed specifically at girlies!) and bead designer which allows kids to make designs on the computer.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Availability and pricing ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There are numerous variations of hama bead sets available. The set we got for Christmas was a large cylinder shaped plastic tub (clear so you can see all of the brightly coloured beads inside) with a screw on lid (which helps prevent spillage!!). Our tub contained 9000 beads of various bright colours (ok so I didn't count them but I am willing to trust the packaging which says there are 9000!!) It also contained a 'boy' shaped pegboard, a 'girl' shaped pegboard, a 'teddy bear' shaped peg board, a sheet of the ironing paper, a leaflet which gives suggestions of designs you could do using the pegboard enclosed and a set of instructions (which are in what looks like pretty much every language under the sun!). Our set cost £9.99 from Gamleys. It would be impossible and unnecessary to list every available set as there are so many of them and there are constantly new ones being brought out! But basically you can buy these beads in all sorts of sets, containing all shapes of pegboard and bead size. The beads can also be brought separately as can the pegboards and the ironing paper. The prices are reasonable and you would expect to pay under a pound for a peg board and beads can be brought in varying sized packs and different colours. The kits are available in most toy shops such as Gamleys and Toys R us but they are also widely available in craft shops and on the internet.
Obviously this toy encourages creativity and imagination in both children and adults. It also develops co-ordination and motor skills as well as patience and if children work on their designs in groups it can also encourage the development of their social skills. The bright colours of the beads encourage young children to form patterns as well as explore how different colours 'look' together. These beads also encourages children to work out ways of 'handling' items in the most effective way, for example the beads can be used more easily if you hold them in between your fingertip and thumb. Children will also be able to choose shapes of the pegboards when creating their design as well as getting an idea of quantities as they discover how many beads are needed for completing designs and recognise that if you use more of one coloured bead in your design then you will need more of that colour of bead (seems simple to use but its something that children actually don't realise until they get practise). Playing with this product will mean that the child is constantly thinking, when my little brother completed his first design he just put beads on willy nilly and then realised that it didn't look like he had wanted to as it just looked like a multicoloured shape, he later began to learn that where he placed the different colours made a huge difference on what the final design looked like. This toy has so many educational benefits to a child's development, whether they work at it on their own or with the help of an adult.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ What do I think? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I love this product!! It is so much fun to make different designs and they look really effective once they are completed. You need a fair bit of patience as it will take a little while to complete a design and it can be difficult to use the smaller beads as they can be very fiddly although I find it really therapeutic and enjoyable. As the beads are small they do have a habit of getting everywhere! The last thing you want to do is accidentally knock over a tub of 9000 of these things!! (trust me on that one too!). If you have little kids or pets around then you will need to make sure the beads don't get left in reach of them as they might get eaten! Mind you, the beads are so small that if they were accidentally swallowed its not going to choke you its just not the brightest of ideas! The beads are also made to pretty high safety standards so if they are accidentally swallowed they wont damage your insides. I love the variety of kits that are available and I think it is good that you can buy the pegboards, beads and paper separately and at a reasonable price. The beads come in a nice variety of colours and the beads and pegboards seem to be of a high quality. The ironing paper and pegboards can be used over and over again (as long as you are careful with the iron!) The hama bead kits are fun for all the family, are a great boredom preventer for kids and allow you to make some really good designs! The final designs also stay together well (as long as you have ironed them properly) and will last for years as decorations for your Christmas tree!!! All in all, I think these are a great creative 'toy' but should come in 'adult kits' to stop me feeling like a kid when I play with it!!!!
Advantages: Teaches co-ordination, motoring skills, colours and allows artistic integrity Disadvantages: Can cause World War 3 when a full board gets knocked over
***What are Hama Beads?*** Hama Midi Beads are 5.0 mm in diameter and can be used in three different ways: you can iron them, press them or sew them together to make designs.
The ironing system is the one I'm most familiar with. The beads are placed one by one on a pegboard and then ironed until they've fused together. This can be tricky, though more on that later!!
In the case of the press system, the beads are placed on a pegboard made up of ... ...***The founder of the Hama Bead*** Malte Haaning Plastic A/S was founded by Malte Haaning in 1961. The company started off by making plastic drinking straws, Midi Hama Beads first saw the light of day in 1971, and even now they are by far the biggest sellers. The Mini and Maxi sizes came into being later.
Thirteen years later, the HAMA name was registered as a trademark. It derives from the name of the founder of the company: HA being the first ...
mizz_behaves 20.09.2006
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Hama Beads
Advantages: Keeps kids amused for hours, cheap, loads of designs to choose from Disadvantages: spillages mean loads of little beads to pick up
...opened a smaller parcel containing Hama Beads.
I must admit that until Gemma had opened this present, I had never seen or heard of these before so I was quite keen to get a closer look. Hama beads are basically plastic cylindrical beads, but instead of threading them onto string, as I first thought, they are stuck onto special pegboards in various patterns. But I suppose you could thread them onto string to make play jewellery if you so wish.
Gemma ... ...a design book.
Using Hama beads couldn’t be easier. With each kit there is a sheet with a design plan on it, which gives instructions on how to complete your piece of art. With your design sheet in front of you, you pick out each colour bead as instructed and place it on the pegboard, making sure that each bead touches each other. The picture starts to take shape and will keep your child (and yourself) amused for hours on end. Once the picture is ...
wardenblw431 12.01.2004 (12.03.2004)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Hama Beads
Advantages: Keeps your kids entertained so you can come on Ciao Disadvantages: Hours spent picking the beads up off the floor.
...on Mc Hammer lol, it's Hama bead time in our house. Ever wonder how I can spend so much time on Ciao when it's half term & I have four daugthers?? Well now you will discover my secret....
Four years ago my eldest daughter came back from a dinner date with a school friend of hers clutching a pretty heart shape made from little beads that were stuck together. She was really taken with this new craze & talked to me for what seemed like hours about ... ...kitchen at the table making Hama beads.
**GETTING STARTED**
The bead its self is a little cylinder shape 2.5mm in length & 1mm in diameter. They come in all colours from primary colours to glittery colours, flouresent colours & even glow in the dark beads which have a funny smell about them, I don't know why but these glow in the dark ones have this one disadvantage to them.
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As well as the beads you will need ...
herbie1977 04.06.2005
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Hama Beads
Advantages: Imaginative, fiddly, keeps kids entertained Disadvantages: Take ages to pick up when they are dropped on the floor
...6) so here goes:
Hama beads are beads that come in three sizes – mini – 2.5mm in diameter (suitable from age 10), midi – 5mm in diameter (suitable from age 5) and maxi – 10mm (suitable from age 3). For the purposes of this opinion I am going to write about the mini beads which although the packet states Katie is too young to play with, she is more than capable of playing with them!
The idea of Hama beads is that you place ... ...together. Accordingly to the Hama website (www.hama.dk)(ooh I've just noticed that you are not supposed to place links to other websites but I am sure I have done in previous ops) “many adults like to work with these beads too instead of doing cross-stitch. Very detailed designs can be made thanks to the small size of the beads – but you need patience!”
The beads come in 48 different colours and can be bought in packets varying ...
claireatwh 26.07.2003
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Hama Beads
Advantages: Not only are these fun, but they also encourage creativity. Disadvantages: Until ironed, pictures are easily disturbed and destroyed.
...almost every age group?
Hama may just be the answer you're looking for!
Hama beads are small plastic beads that can be placed on pegs on a board to create a picture that can then be bound together by being ironed.
They are relatively cheap, and come in a variety of different colours. Best of all, the boards are largely reusable, so only replacement beads need be bought. Also, boards are available in different shapes eg. rectangular, love heart ... ...some suppliers and prices of Hama beads and boards.
One of the best things about Hama is the fact that it can be used by almost every age group. I used to use it myself as a young child, and have used it since with groups of young children, but have also seen it being used with teenagers.
I wouldn't advise that very young children use it, though, as the beads are small, and could present a choking hazard, plus its a relatively fiddly "craft" and ...
Guru-On-A-Mountain 19.02.2004
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Hama Beads
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