My kids love creating things out of fusible beads, but we don’t do it nearly as often as they would like because it means getting the iron out and the iron is hardly my favorite household appliance (that title goes to our washing machine, followed closely by the dishwasher). When we were offered the opportunity to try out Beados, which work like fusible beads, but are bonded using water instead of heat, I knew the kids would love it – and I was right! They spent at least six hours with these, the first time I pulled them out – building projects, and planning how to use the beads we were sent. It was a beautiful six hours, because they were happily productive, and I was able to get other things done (I did have to keep an eye on Anna while she was awake, because these beads are tiny and not for young children who might put things in their mouths.
We were sent a Beados Quick Dry Station (This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.) as well as this theme pack. The kids put in a lot of time creating projects, both using the design cards that came with the sets and making up their own creations. We had to get creative, because these designs take a LONG time to dry (think overnight, and the quick dry station, while cute and fun to watch, doesn’t accelerate the process much) and we only had two design trays. Beados recommends not spraying more than five or six times to prevent excessively long drying times, but even this many sprays took a long time to dry (and sometimes left us with beads not sticking together). Beados does recommend flipping the bead creations and spraying the other side and then letting that dry as well to create very durable creations.
Since we only had two trays, We were able to use some of our fusible bead trays, and those worked okay, although it was harder to get the beads out once dry and those trays created water pooling issues. I wish that kits came with more design trays (the theme pack did not have any trays), or that the trays could be bought separately, and possibly in different shapes (like you find for fusible beads).
One really cool thing about Beados is that, if you are careful, you can use them to create three-dimensional sculptures like the one above! They aren’t intended to be used this way, but the kids had a lot of fun with this, although there was some frustration because the beads can be sticky when wet and sometimes they stick to your fingers rather than the sculpture. Once Beados creations dry, they have a nice rubbery texture and stay together really well!
Do you have kids who would enjoy this craft? Beados is offering Beados Starter Packs to two of my US readers! I actually think this pack is the best You can enter via the Rafflecopter form below:
MaryAnne is a craft loving educator, musician, photographer, and writer who lives in Silicon Valley with her husband Mike and their four children.
Which is. Better the starter or the one with the dryer?
The starter set, in my opinion. The dryer doesn’t do much to speed up the drying process, and you could get two starter sets instead.
Thank you .,
My youngest niece
I have never heard of Beados! My kids would go crazy for them though! So cooL!
my 9 year old
I would love for my 4 little granddaughters
my daughters :D
I would give this to my girls for Christmas. They would love doing this craft! Thank you for the wonderful giveaway!
I’d give this to my two baby girls :)
I would give this to my niece. She would love it.
I would give this to a freind’s daughter. billsn beaks raffle name
I would give this to my daughter.
I would give this awesome prize for my nieces because they love crafts
Thank You for the chance
If I won this, I would use it with our granddaughter.
I would give this to my granddaughter — she enjoys crafts and I think this would be great fun.
I would give it to my niece!!
My daughter would really enjoy this.
I have never seen these before! They look really fun! My two oldest girls would enjoy doing this together.
My daughter would love this! Very cool:)
I would give it to my oldest daughter if I won. She’s into stuff like this.
My 9 yr old son who is special needs
my daughter would love these !
I would love to give this to my niece who is in 2nd grade. She loves crafts so much!
I would save it for Christmas as a gift for my girls
I would do this for myself..lol
These look like something my six year old would love, so I would give them to him. He is my creative and artistic soul.
a gift for my daughter. this would keep her well entertained
My kids would love this! :)
I would give it to my son. He’s been asking for them for the longest time.
I’d give this to my very creative and crafty niece Cami who is 10 if I won.
I would give it to my niece!
I would give this to my niece!
andysavi.mom@gmail.com
I would use it with my nieces when they come to visit
I would give this to my daughter
these look fun!! My daughter loves anything crafty! we would have a blast playing with this
My ten year old saw this post over my shoulder and wants it so bad. :)
One of my friend’s kids :)
My 5 year old would love these for homeschool art projects.
I know two girls of friends who would love this! They are 7 and 10. kristiedonelson(at)gmail(dot)com Thank you.
That is an impressively long amount of time. My kids can spend that long making peg dolls and building with them at times.
I’d probably give them to my daughter and it would rapidly be absorbed into general kiddo craft stuff.
My daughter especially I think would enjoy these although my son surprises me all the time :)
My 4 year old! Her birthday is in September.
My little niece would really love something like this!
My kids loved doing the fusible beads at a friends house, and keep begging for them, but we don’t own an iron!
My girls would love these!
My girls loved the fuse beads that they did at their friends’ house. I never had any because it looked to messy. Those little beads everywhere make me tense.
They do tend to go everywhere…
Smarty likes to create with fusible beads. I remember having similar water beads once, and I don’t recall them taking super long to dry, but I remember them being kind of brittle when completed, especially in the care of eager little fingers. Your kids creations look amazing!
These are surprisingly durable once dry – similar to the heat fusible beads.
Yay for six hours to get things done! I was pretty excited that I was able to make Vi’s entire cake while the kids played with play-doh today. :) Those Beados look fantastic for creating atomic models, if they had little rods to work with as well.
You know, I almost wrote about using them to make atomic models in my post, but then realized we needed rods for it to really work!
Play dough has helped me get things done MANY times!
Very cool! I hear ya on the iron. I really, really don’t like ironing.
Same here. I am very grateful for the no-iron technology – Mike’s work clothes rarely need ironing, so long as we pull them out of the dryer right away. And, when they do need ironing, he almost always does it.
My little one would love this!! She is advanced enough to not place them in her mouth. Though I’d have to keep the beads from falling on the floor. Thanks for this review!