Talk me through hama beads and Bindeez ...

[LolaLadybird]

DD is 5 and spends a lot of her time on craft stuff - loves drawing, painting & sticking. Would hama beads and Bindeez be the right age for her? Also, I've not seen them in RL (just online) so not really sure what the idea is - I'm thinking it involves sticking beads on a mat ...?

right, both involve lots and lots of little pieces. Seriously consider whether they would drive you mad. Some people will consider you mad for considering. That aside

You can get cheaper non branded hama beads iyswim. Places like ikea do them. Although Hama do some really funcky looking kits.

Ds has them and the deal is if they go on the floor they go up the hoover. You have a tray with lots of pegs, you put a bead on each peg. Mummy then uses a peace of grease proof and an iron to melt them together. they cool down and are stuck together.

My advice is to get a cheap tray with compartments in for putting the beads in so that the wanted colour can be got. Also if you place the board on a tray any dropped/escaped beads can be easily transferred back into the pot with little mess.

Oh and ds had them from the age of 3 I think. Just needed good super vision. was fabulous for hand eye control. And keeping him busy. 10mins at a time. Atm he is too busy climbing tress to be bothered.

Go for Bindeez - they stick together by spraying water on, so no need to get the iron out. Also, they are easier to put on because just little balls that go into little holes, less fiddly than putting the beads on the pegs.

I much prefer Hama. OK, you have to get the iron out but it's done pretty much instantly. Bindeez have to be left to dry so you can't re-use the tray straight away. And I found that bindeez could easily be knocked out of position whilst you're still creating, leading to much frustration.

Plus, hama are much smaller so can be used to make proper pictures (DS still loves them aged 8 and makes Toy Story characters). And you can hoover the odd spilt ones up.

Thank you both for the prompt response. And Bat, thank you for the cautionary note and also the tray idea - inspired.

Anyone else with a Hama v Bindeez preference ...?

We haven't tried Bindeez but do love Hama. They come in three different sizes for different age groups. We have some of the maxi size (for 3+) and the midi size (5+) although the salesperson said some of the kits are very fiddly and would suit older children (8ish) better. Mine all love making things and we put their creations on bedroom walls (just hang on a nail, not sure you can do this with bindeez?).

It can be costly (although I have 5 dcs so a pack doesn't stretch far) but they're a staple here for rainy days when I can't face a messy kitchen, and I don't always iron the creations as sometimes they just like to play with the beads. Also you can pick up pattern books which show things you can make with a basic square, so you don't necessarily need many different shapes.

We bought some value kits from a xmas show which I thought were fairly reasonable (compared to the price in local toy shop), the seller's store is hamabeads.com

Dd1 (6) did get an aquabeads set for her birthday but we haven't opened the box yet, looks much more fiddly/messy.

My dc (5&8) love Hama beads. We haven't tried Bindeez, but we have had Aqua beads and they were a total pain.

I swear by HAMA beads or the IKEA equivalent for playdates at that age. Essentially mess free.

Bindeeze is rubbish. So easy to knock the little balls out of place and it had DD screaming the house down the other day in frustration! Also had to wait ages for the patterns to dry.

Im going to get her a hama beads set for her birthday i think.

The cheap IKEA hama beads copies are just as good.

They spill them everywhere so if you have a crawling baby they're not great, but they're easily hoovered up

A question from the uninitiated - how fiddly would this be for DD (5) as her first foray into hama beads - should I be starting with something smaller (although I don't want her to finish it too quickly either)?

We re-named bindeez, bin these! They are frustrating and break far to easily once stuck together as well s taking ages to dry.

On the other hand, Hama beads are brilliant. Even my 13yr old DS1 loves them and has asked for more because we have run out! They do tend to end up everywhere though!