A really crafty little set! (Hama Bumper Activity Set)

Member Name: azana

Product:	Hama Bumper Activity Set
Date:	13/07/09 (147 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Creative and fun

Disadvantages: small pieces

Hama beads are small plastic beads that can be strung or placed on pegboards and then ironed to fuse them together to make a mat. They come in many sizes, colours and shapes and have been sold since 1971 and are very popular with children and crafters alike.

This particular set is a great introduction to Hama and was the first one we ever bought. It is great value at £9.99 from Argos, at time of writing part of a 2 for £14.99 deal.

What you get:

The set contains 7,500 beads, 4 pegboards, some ironing sheets (for adult use) and instructions as well as a sheet showing pictures of creations you might like to use for inspiration. There is a flower pegboard as well as a rabbit, a heart and a square which is big enough to be used for your own ideas.

Everything comes in a plastic tray which has two sides for storing the beads and a middle section to put the pegboard in when you are creating, everything can be easily stored in one place in the box after use.

The beads are the Midi size, which means they are half a centimetre in diameter so perhaps best for children 5 and upwards, though younger children with good fine motor skills will enjoy them too they are best kept away from under 3's.

If you haven't seen the beads before they are a bit like very thick drinking straws that have been cut into 0.5 cm lengths, when ironed they melt down and spread out to stick to the bead next to them.

Using the set:

There is a good range of colours in this set, from the basic colours through to grey and purple so good for both sexes of children and plenty of scope for creation. I found my five year old started off by copying the designs on the box and on the colour sheet but soon developed the confidence to follow her own ideas. This activity does require a degree of patience and concentration, which to my mind is a good thing. The child can get a bit frustrated if they tip up the peg board mid creation and will require some encouragement at first.

Once finished the design can be made permanent by an adult covering the design with the paper provided and gently ironing. This makes the creations pretty permanent and sturdy. My daughter has made mats, items for a mobile and decorations for her wall - it is the kind of toy that will grow with her I think, I am sure there are many more things you could make but I find it a nice activity to do together and it really does make them think.

My daughter really enjoys playing with these and will also often get this set out to share with friends who come to play; it keeps them very quiet and they greatly enjoying doing hama beads. I like the fact that it encourages creativity and is a fairly purposeful activity.

Overall:

This box really does contain everything you need to start out in Hama and provides hours of entertainment. I think this is an excellent creative and interesting toy, and this set is well worth the price you pay for it.

There are other systems of this sort available now, including the recently popular Aqua beads - I have found that the latter beads though better as not involving ironing (never something I like) do come apart far more easily and being smaller seem to get everywhere, so I actually prefer the Hama system. There are imitation beads available - Tesco do a version - but the original Hama are of better quality in my mind. The original Hama have plastic of better quality and the beads are all the same length whereas this is not the case with the non-branded items where the pegboards are less good too.

We really like Hama beads and I highly recommend this set.


More information and creation ideas at www.hama.dk

Mini bead sets of a smaller bead size are available for over 10's, with Maxi beads being aimed at age 3.

Radom fact - the name HAMA comes from the first two letters of the first name and surname of their creator - Malte Haaning

Summary: a great starter set for Hama