aqua beads

[leamac]

6 year old wants aqua beads, would appreciate opinions on them

[TheGashlycrumbTinies]

We had a Sean the Sheep set as a birthday gift.

They are fairly time consuming, and not in a good way.

Model tend to fall to bits fairly quickly, ours all ended up in the bin within a week.

I'm a arts and crafts type person as are DD's but we all found them a bit fidley, dull, and not worth the effort.

[wingandprayer]

My 5 year old DD loves them, keeps her
busy for hours. Far better than hama beads IMO

[leamac]

thanks for replies, maybe just get a small kit to try them

[dearprudence]

IME aqua beads are difficult to line up - they move about. And because you set them with water you have to wait hours for them to dry, during which time you can't re-use the tray.

I much prefer hama beads. More contrasting colours make stronger pictures and patterns. You iron them, so they're done and set in about 5 mins.

DS (who is very crafty) had both at 5. He is now 7, and hama is still going strong, while the aqua has been sent to charity shop.