please tell me all you know about Hama beads

[frothykindofadrink]

I have a huge tub of them from Ikea but no boards - they had no boards when I was there but my friend told me I had to buy some and I am very obedient

(I don't even know what the boards do or what I need or even what the beads are for. I believe there is an iron involved but really that's the extent of my knowledge)

I wanted to get some stuff to add to them for Christmas but don't know what to get - are there different sizes? What do I need? Are Hama beads easy to do or are they really fiddly as my dd1 has fine motor difficulties - if it was something that she enjoyed she might get good hand co-ordination practice out of it but if it needs really good hand control she'll just spill them and strop off

I have seen kits in Woolworths that make Pluto and Mickey Mouse but honestly I would rather eat my own hand

please help I would like to buy online if poss

Sadly the Ikea beads aren't compatable with Hama! I know they look it, but they just a tiny bit too big to fit on the Hama peg boards. I too, have 2 boxes of them, which I thought was a bargin at £1 a box, until I discovered they don't fit!

You can thread them onto pipe cleaners though and make pretty flowers, or onto strings/elastic for necklaces. Other than that, I don't know.

ok so I can live without using the Ikea ones as you say they were cheap

what do I do about Hama if I am starting from scratch?

There's 3 different sizes you can get, depending on the ages of your lo's. The middlesized stuff is the one you usually see around. Best to buy a kit if you're not sure if its going to be succesful. Everything comes with it then, including instructions for the ironing part.

They look lovely when they're done, but the sheer presure of carrying a peg board from the table to the iron, full of tiny beads and not dropping it, after hours of putting them on, is too much for me!

oh okay where do I get kits

please tell me there is somewhere else but Woolworths

You can get them here.

They can be really fiddly but also good fun.
I taught a class of 8-year-olds for a term and they were obsessed! They weren't even that bothered about keeping the designs. They just liked making them then tipping them back into the pot. We did let them have them ironed if they really wanted to and they were decent designs.

You can get them in Toys R Us. x

OK

I will be perfectly honest with you and say that my two fine motor skills challenged children found these bloody impossible.

They go everywhere...all over the floor, on the carpet. Your hoover will do all the hard work with the blasted things.

If her fine motor skills are crap, they'll frustrate her. They frustrate me because I tried to help and found it quite hard to get them to sit nicely on the boards grrrr.

Argos and Hobbycraft do kits. Hobbycraft seem to have the widest variety.

foxinsocks that is really helpful thanks

I might have a go at the Maxi beads then and if she can't manage them her little sister can eat them instead

My dds love Hama beads, but will usually borrow my tweezers to make it a bit easier as they are very fiddly.

DD6 started doing hama age 4 can be fiddly but I think smaller hands deal them with it better. You need the beads a board and the ironing paper.got most of dd's from here

They are great fun and require lots of concentration. (Very handy!)

Only thing is you will be finding them in the strangest places as they seem to breed and look for new places to conquer.

My tip is iron them as soon as the design is finished.

We have made the mistake of leaving them hanging around, and then they get knocked / jolted and then they are ruined, and then dd1 tries to kill dd2, whose fault it usually is.....

They fit very snugly up a 5yr old's nostril !

They will be lodged into every tiny nook and cranny in the house and you will be forever standing on them (or is that just me). But dd 6.5)loves hers and makes presents for her friends. You can buy a book of ideas to help with lots of different designs.

They make a satisfying rattle as I nonchalently hoover them up .

Would like to second emsie - we have lost many a beautiful creation because it has been left waiting to be ironed on the side in the kitchen, hence the hoovering