Hama Beads... yes I know I know

[brandysoakedbitch]

Madness I know, the only toy you can hoover up a thousand of and still have a million of the buggers.

I have resisted these for a long time but my little dd who is just 8 is such a creative little thing, she is slightly asd and enjoys space and time to do things on her own. I know she does hama beads in after school club on occasion so thought it would be a nice idea for christmas for her. We also have an older dd and two little dss (who are much more likely to jam them up their nose or scoff them) but I was thinking in the longer term they will probably all like to have a go at these.

Can anyone give me an idea of where to start with these - I have had a look on Amazon and there are 101 different kinds. Am I better to buy a bloody great big box and a few of the plates things and add more as we go? Or a specially themed set - I wonder if anyone can recommend.

IKEA version is cheapest (if they still do them.)
I'd get the biggest cheapest starter pack you can.

I have seen the IKEA ones and wasn't sure if they were compatible with the regular brand.

Ooooh my dd (7yo) loves these
I like the box sets
Argos 394 5258 or 394 5289
And not that I'd know but any that are eaten do thru and come out the "other end" with no problems

I bought a bucket of 10,000 beads and a pack of templates from Hobbycraft (own brand) along with a HAMA ideas booklet from Amazon. My DD (aged 5) and DS (3) love them and don't seem to make much mess with them.

I quite like hama beads, yes of course you can hoover a zillion and still have gazillions left. That is part of the 'fun'

394/5306 - his item on argos is half price actually - down to £4.99 for 5000 beads and 4 pegboards - JOB DONE. thanks so much x

The IKEA version is compatible, but I would go to Hobbycraft and choose some plates, a decent book with designs and some packets of colours.... they will last you for years and will cover so many rainy days

I saw some tiny ones yesterday - think you'd need tweezers to do them

Oh and don't bother with their ironing paper. Buy a roll of greaseproof paper, works just as well and alot cheaper.

Bloody bugger and arse - Argos oy cannot pick up the half price hama beads - oh no... you have to have them delivered which makes them more expensive than full price

and don't even get me started on bleeding tesco: I have my doubly up vouchers for toys but there is bugger all left to buy as all sold out

how hard can it be? (trying to avoid actually shopping)

In my house when there are Hama beads all over the floor I give a sweet to the child that tidies up the most. Probably terrible parenting for all kinds of reasons but it works.

Don't buy a set. If you can get to a craft shop, try and buy the individual shapes - squares, circles, hexagons, egg shapes. The egg shape is great for Easter.

There are tons of free patterns on the internet eg. Easter, Halloween, Christmas.

The Christmas snowflakes are lovely to make.

snowflakes and Easter

Ooh thank you for the Christmas snowflakes patterns :)

Might buy a few more white beads in preparation. I know we have hexagon boards somewhere.....

DD had most use out of the small shaped plates (star, circle and hexagon).

She had some shaped like rabbits but they were a PITA as the sticking out bits, like ears and legs, kept breaking off.

Oh thank you Belgo - I have a feeling a bit percentage of these beads will be going through the baby (literally) - I wonder if I can get a sweet for collecting those.... ewwwww

Thank god they're cheap

Luminescent beads are great for stars and skeletons.

Yes I remember my ds having colourful poo due to these beads.

We found a hearing aid battering in baby ds's nappy the other day... had been to visit Grandad (I always have a sweep round visually as soon as I get there as he seems to get through hundreds of them and leaves them all over the place).

Bad Mother

and with regard to the funny shaped ones. ie animals and all yes CroissantNeuf that was my thinking, also she has quite a few ordering problems so something more 'freesytle' might be the thing for her. She can get a bit stressed if she thinks she has got something wrong or if it breaks so is best to avoid in the first place.

thank you so much belgo the snowfalke patterns have just sorted out my DC's presents to the GPs this year. Excellent!

oooh my first MN flowers!

We made the snowflakes for the grandparents last year, just attach a thread and they make pretty Christmas decorations.

I feel all like Kirsty Alsopp

I love Hama!

DS liked the sets, eg: pirates, toy story, because I think it was a bit like a jigsaw. You have to find all the right colours and put them in the right place. He could spend hours doing this. I might not have bought these but we were passed one set from my sister as her children didn't like it, and I found a couple in the local charity shop.

I he also liked the various boards (flower, bunny, egg, person, plain square) where you could make your own design or picture.

Mixed boxes of colours are fine, but in the sets they come in trays, so only a few end up spilled on the floor.

Just be careful about carrying them to the ironing board! A precious creation dropped all down the stairs can lead to hysterical crying and wailing a tear or two.

I have just bought some MAXI hama beads from this site - craftmerrily I ordered last weekend & they arrived Tuesday.

They are pretty BIG so will be great for my 2 & 4 yr olds.

They also have a good selection of normal size beads but I have no idea how competitive the prices are as I have nothing to compare them to as I have never bought the normal ones.

Just noticed that Belbo has linked tto the same site (different name but same site, they also have toy site called playmerrily)