Sailors and Lions and Clowns, oh my!

A few weeks ago I took up an offer from the very kind Merry Raymond who was asking for people to review some Hama beads from her shop. I was able to pick whichever set I thought my girls would like so I opted for a marvellous looking Puppet Theatre set. As you can see,the twin bunnies were a tad excited when it arrived.

I picked this set for two reasons, one because bunny lashes is absolutely nuts about Lions and two, because being a larger kit and having two children on the front I thought that it would be something they could do together and not fight over...

First things first, in the box are two bags of beads,(five thousand in total) four sticks with discs on, a set of sticky pads, one board to make the chosen design or pattern, a sheet of ironing paper and a colour sheet with four characters and instruction booklet. This particular set also comes with a very colourful cardboard puppet theatre so you may create theatrical masterpieces once you have made your figures.

 For anyone that isn't familiar with Hama beads the concept is very simple. The image is made with the corresponding beads on the picture. It requires a small amount of dexterity and a little bit more counting. Once your creation is complete you place the ironing paper over the design and iron carefully over it until the heat fuses the beads together. Once it is cool you can remove it from the board.

With this kit you make a front and back for your character and attach them to the sticks using the double sided tape.

Whilst there was never any shadow of a doubt as to which character would be chosen by one twin, Bunny Dimples just could not make up her mind.

Decisions, decisions.

Both girls were eager to get started but I hadn't read the details of the kit properly and was rather dissapointed to find that there was only one board supplied.This was, of course, my fault entirely but I do feel that as the box depicts two children and it is a large kit with four characters to make that perhaps two boards would be more practical.

I put a teatowel on a baking tray to stop the board moving around and the beads ending up all over the floor and decanted a few of each bag into plastic tubs to make them easier to get at.




One twin grasped the concept fairly quickly and finished her sailor pretty easily. The other one did not. Not at all. She refused to finish it and couldn't be coaxed back to the table for all the tea in china. Despite finding the process easy the other twin also refused to do anymore so her poor sailor has just a front.

I have to admit that I was genuinely surprised by their reaction to it, I thought it was a really lovely kit. The characters are bright and engaging and the cardboard Theatre lots of fun.
The girls absolutely love crafting and making things and so far this is the only thing that they haven't really enjoyed very much. I think that it may be due to the constraints of making the characters. They have subsequently made their own designs and enjoyed that much more.

To sum up, I think that Hama beads are great fun. This kit at £13.99 is very reasonably priced and I think for the right child it would offer many hours of fun (read peace and quiet for parents). There is such a huge range to choose from and larger beads for smaller fingers.

I have not put the kit away, it remains on the bookcase and I am keeping my fingers crossed that they return to it and finish it. If they don't I may very well do it for them!

Love,