I had Hama beads when I was a little girl and then I remember my younger sister having them too, I knew Hama was a really good creative toy and so decided to buy my eldest daughter some for Christmas. You can get Hama beads in three different sizes and this size is meant for ages 5 and up, my daughter is only 4 but I felt she would handle these within problem and so bought hwer a tub from Amazon.


The tub cost me about £8 and I had to buy the pegboards and ironing paper seperately but felt that this was the better option and her collection can always be expanded with extra boards and patterns at a later date. You can buy many different sets of Hama beads from bags of the same colour to numerous mixed packs and tub to themed boxes such as princesses so there is something to suit all children.


This set of Hama beads contains 10000 multicoloured beads and comes in a hard cardboard box, the box has curved edges rather than pointed which makes it more child friendly, the lid of the box fits well and the tub has a handle to carry it buy which makes dropping the tub less likely which would be awful.


The beads are tiny little cylinders of hard plastic in all sorts of colours, this tub is bold colours blue, green, red, yellow, black, pink, purple, brown and white, each of the beads is about 1/2cm in height and about 3mm across so handling them can be a little fiddly. To use the Hama beads you place then hole side down onto little pegs on a Hama peg board to make a pattern or a picture. Once you have finished your design you simply place the ironing paper over the top of your design and then iron over until the beads all melt together and form a seal.


When my daughter first started playing with these they were everywhere but slowly she has realised how to be more gentle when handling them and she is now managing to make pictures happily. The school teach children her age about patterns and she loves making her own patterns up on the boards although she also likes copying the pattern sheet I bought her and making pictures which she is now becoming good at. When you iron the designs they aren't wondefully strong so my daughter did break her first few designs but again she has learnt how she needs to handle them and we have bought her some stands for her to display her designs.


I loved these beads as a child and my daughter is no different, she has to play with these beads upstairs in her bedroom due to having a younger sister so I go up with her sometimes and we make patterns together which she loves. The beads are well priced and you should be able to find a set within just about any price range. I would recommend Hama beads and so would my daughter.