***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.

In the case of the press system, the beads are placed on a pegboard made up of a special kind of pegs. These come with pegs either on one side only, or on both sides. You won't be able to remove the beads once you've placed them on the pegboard.

Midi Beads are available in over 50 different colours, including glitter, glow in the dark, day glow and clear. There are in excess of 20 boards, including stars, hearts, princesses, frogs to the more tradional squares and circles.

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.

***How do you get the endless hours of play?***

My girls are aged eleven and eight, my son is three, and a nightmare (but that's beside the point). With all the different designs that can be made there are often a dozen or more of the boards on the go at some stage of unfinish. We use the finished products as door decorations, window charms, fridge magnets and personalised gifts. The planning can often take as long as the actual making, especially now, seeing that most of the designs we know of have been completed.

At our place the beads are sorted into colours in little craft boxes. This makes our family time a little less stressful when making a new design, and a little more "fun" when sorting out a new tub of 9,000 beads. I do recommend doing this as trying to find thirty six greens with one hand with five others reaching into a tub the size of a baked bean can is not much fun.

And for the parents, there's the added joy of a little extra ironing. Nothing pleases me more than being informed there are thirty plus Hama Boards waiting to be pressed. That, and the added bonus of the beads not bonding properly because I'm to focussed on Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps, (the programme, not my evening meal) reveals just a little uncertainty in my dull little life. Hey, it looks like I didn't lose my sarcastic streak during surgery after all!

I usually buy my boards on Ebay and beads at my local department store. For a largeish town, Boston now has the one toy shop in said Department store. There are literally hundreds of web sites these can be purchased from, and as Christmas approaches Boots and Woolworths will start to stock them once more. Prices start from a little more than a pound, with larger tubs of 5,000 beads and four boards being £9.99 in Argos this year. However, you can get a Princess or Pooh bear set with 6,000 beads and boards for less than £15. There are many bargains to be had if you search hard enough, from pirates to dinosaurs, puppies to pony club, and the new Barbie boxed sets.

***Educational values***

***Age range***

Hama have come up with Hama maxi and mini beads, as well as the midi. So now children as young as three can join in the fun. There isn't any limit to the maximum age, you're only as old as your imagination with this past-time. The mini beads are a lot smaller than the midi, similarly the maxi beads are a lot larger. We only have the one variety as I've discovered my son won't do anything specifically designed for little ones. (We've tried the baby slides, trampolines and climbing frames, he won't play the baby game.) My advice, if the child has older siblings, stick with the midi beads.

I suggest trying ironing on both sides of the design once off the board, this does make them stronger, as superglue doesn't mend the broken heart (literally).