Beaded Beauties!

Advantages: great fun and creative
Disadvantages: a bit fiddly, needs better instructions

...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...

kingfisher111 31.10.2008 · Read review
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Review of Hama Beads Disney Princess Gift Box

The first UK Beading magazine!

Advantages: Great quality magazine
Disadvantages: spending too much money on beading! The magazine price (£3.95)

...As a beading fan, I was really excited when a new UK bead magazine came out at the end of 2007, so have bought every issue from the start (that's 16 issues). -------------------------------------------- SOME BASIC INFORMATION ------------------------------------------- Website'' ' http://www.beadmagazine.co.uk/ has a forum, a gallery, and information about most things I'm going to tell you about! Price: £3.95 (the price hasn't changed from the start) Publisher: Ashdown.co.uk: international magazine publishers and Internet television broadcasters Editor: Jean Power - who is herself an avid beader, has co-written two books: Beading For Beginners and The Big Book Of Weekend Beading. I could write more about her but if you want to know - visit her website http://www.jeanpower.com/ Subscriptions - 1 year...

justathought 05.07.2009 · Read review
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Review of Bead Magazine

Moosical Beads

Advantages: Light and durable
Disadvantages: no volume control

...Vetch Moosical Beads Yet another excellent toy from Vetch. My 2nd son had this bought him for Christmas when he was 4 months old and from day 1 he loves it. The toy is really light so now that he is 6 months old he can pick it up and chew the track. The toy is in a shape of a cow with 4 different brightly coloured tracks. As with most Vetch models there are 2 modes, 1 musical and the other talks. This one has a bird, cow, pig and the farmer as well as a nest, a bucket, a cart and a hat. All of the characters and items have 1 track each so when you move them to one end and push the button you will be told who the character is or what noise they make (depending on mode). This is all except the farmer, press this button and there are 4 different tunes on musical mode, on talking mode you are told 'Farmer' and 'Old Macdonald had...

sarah.shipley 14.02.2001 (13.02.2001) · Read review
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Review of VTech Moosical Beads

Teeny tiny beads

Advantages: Lots of makes
Disadvantages: The beads are very small and the case not very sturdy

...Beads We do like kits like this- well, Little Miss likes them; I'm never totally sure if I like them because the beads always seem to get everywhere! ~~What is it?~~ Basically, this is a bead set; lots of beads and a plastic tray with a lid. The box has illustrations of some girls showing off their latest bead makes, and the beads and plastic case can be clearly seen, so encouraging a "need" in anyone who enjoys this kind of thing! ~~What do I get?~~ • Assorted beads • Elastic cords • Hemp • Nylon cords • Plastic ear rings • Hooks • Plastic clasps • Instruction leaflet • Plastic tray with lid, separated into compartments. ~~Price and availability~~ I do believe that this is a Toys 'R' Us product, so if this is the case, then they will be available exclusively...

danielalong 20.10.2007 · Read review
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Review of Totally Me Shiny Seed Bead Case

Hama Beads

Advantages: Keeps children occupied productive
Disadvantages: Fiddly can cause a mess

...) What are they?- Hamm beads are small beads which can be placed on a board (which may be already made into a shape or you can have a square one to create your own design.) They come in all types of colors and once the product is finished you simply iron over the top to keep the beads in shape. They can be then used as coasters stuck on paper to be used as a card or whatever else your child desires...

amylou8191 23.04.2006 · Read review
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Review of Hama Beads

The First Years Soft Teething Beads Dangerous?

Advantages: Brightly Colored
Disadvantages: Falls Apart.

...I bought The First Years Soft Teething Beads two days ago for my daughter, and I can tell you that this product is not safe for teething infants. The First Years Soft Teething beads are brightly colored and claim that they contain a super strong cord and come with a ring-lock bead to keep the beads from breaking free. The reason why I bought The First Years Soft Teething beads was the fact that it had bright colors and my baby loves bright colored objects. The first day I gave this to my baby she poked a hole into one of the soft beaads! Then the second day I gave the toy to my baby she somehow got the beads apart and the beads were in her mouth luckily she didnt choke!...

Scofie517 22.12.2008 · Read review
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Review of The First Years Soft Teething Beads

VTech Moosical Beads

Advantages: Brightly coloured beads attractive to child, exciting sounds and flashing lights, education from an early age.
Disadvantages: The American accent is a bit off-putting.

...This brightly coloured activity toy is the centre of my daughter's world. From pressing the buttons to hear animal noises she has progressed to matching the beads and moving them along their own tracks. To see the day to day progress really is something. There are four buttons, each with two functions. On the "voice" function a female voice (unfortunately with an American accent) says the name of the animal and the musical function just makes the sound of each animal and plays a selection of farmyard related tunes. My daughter loves it. It gets thrown around a lot and has survived without a scratch. The batteries last months, even with constant use. Aflashing light on the head of the cow shaped base proves an incentive to press the buttons. (My daughter loves lights of all kinds!) I had my doubts at first, but my daughter thinks...

jinky 12.04.2001 · Read review
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Review of VTech Moosical Beads

Beads, Bracelets, Bags & Belts!

Advantages: Large range of products
Disadvantages: Bit pricey

...& do the best they can to help you. How-ever when I've been in a few stores, i have never been approached or greeted by a member of staff. Are the prices reasonable? I would agree with some of the prices of various things, such as a plastic bangle, would cost about £2.50, and a beaded necklace to match would maybe cost about £4.00. How-ever they do a range with diamante's in. This includes necklaces, Tiara's, earrings and bracelets. I think these are over-priced as they charge upto £6.50 for a single necklace and its the type of jewelley that'll turn a dull colour and leave a blue colour across your neck/wrist if you wear the item too much. Ear Piercing Staff are trained through ear piercing and only a qualified ear piercing specialist will pierce your ears. You get the choice to choose from a range of studs, which are avaliable in...

kiss_me2070 24.03.2007 · Read review
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Review of Claire's Accessories (Shop)

  It's Hama time!

Advantages: Keeps your kids entertained so you can come on Ciao
Disadvantages: Hours spent picking the beads up off the floor.

...No this isn't a review 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 these little plastic beads & what you can do with them. After much begging & pleading I took the girls into town to see what this craze was all about. On entering our local toy shop we were met by rows & rows of plastic bags containing pretty little plastic beads, such a choice of colours. Each bag containing 1000 beads rangeing in price from £1.50 - £2.00 a bag...

herbie1977 04.06.2005 · Read review
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Review of Hama Beads

  Feast your Beady little eyes on these!!

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

...~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hama 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 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...

ilusvm 14.05.2005 · Read review
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Review of Hama Beads