Most Friday afternoons I visit a friend of mine and we usually talk about all the things one talks about and it passes the time well into the evening. Sometimes of course, the conversation dries up, (my friend has this uncanny habit of forgetting i'm there!) His pc is joined to him!
It was such as this that looking around the room I noticed some beads in a bucket that quite intrigued me. My friend has a ten year old daughter and she had been playing with these.
After interacting with her, (Ten years old is just about on my level, ) I found out what they were and all about them.
They are made by Hama, and are bought in several activity sets, containing a number of coloured beads, different shaped peg boards and ironing cloths to complete your patterns.
The beads are about 3/8 of an inch in length, come in all the basic colours like red, pink, orange, brown, black, green, white and pastel versions of these major colours. The peg boards are all different shapes and sizes and can be just squares, circular , or in animal shapes or people. You place a bead over the peg and you make up a pattern or picture. The beads stay in place by themselves, (unless you knock them, then they all fall out again), and after you have decided that your pattern is ready to be made permanent you heat up the electric iron.
At this stage I would point out that the manufacturer's state quite clearly that this final stage should be done by an adult. A piece of this ironing cloth is place over the top of the pegboard and a hot iron gently placed on top. This has the effect of joining all the little beads together and can be removed from the pegboard and used as coasters, plant mats etc.
The pegboards can be used over and over again. the beads are bought in large quantities and can be in packs of single colours or multi.
They are available at all good toy shops, I've seen them in the Argos catalogue and prices are from about £4.99 up to about £19.99. From a small starter kit up to a mega kit with storage for all the beads and different pegboards. All different parts are available to add.
I see on the instructions that they are for children over 5, and as the beads are quite small I suppose that there is a danger of smaller children swallowing them.
I spent many happy hours making my pattern, but I had to wait for my friend's partner to come home and iron it for me. I now have a bamboo plant standing on it, a really nice plant mat.
I should imagine that kids would find this really interesting, I did and I am a big kid at heart, many relaxing hours spent on this product.
I doubt if I will be writing another toy review so I hope this is of help to parents.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
My 2 loved these when they were younger. They are very therapeutic.
You do need to watch some children with them as my daughter (about 6 then) managed to put one up her nose.
very helpful by (95%):
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