Zirrly Super Beads Mega Pack

 

I always enjoy it when the Homeschool Review Crew receives supplemental items to review, like this fun craft set by Zirrly, the Super Beads Mega Pack. Those who are familiar with fuse beads may be interested by these new Super Beads, because they have a feature that I think is fantastic! Rather than being fused together with heat from an iron, these beads fuse together simply with water! A craft project that you can take with you anywhere, even off the grid! :)

The kit we received for review is the Mega Pack, which comes with 4500 super beads, 4 design board grids (that snap together to make one large design board, if you have a really ambitious child/project to complete), 4 assorted design templates (in quintuplicate ;)), a design tool to assist with placement of beads sometimes, and removal of design when it is finished, as well as a set of instructions.

My boys and I all decided to get involved in this project (because, who can resist the lure of fuse beads? ;)). I have spent many hours in the past crafting along with my eldest and middlest when they were younger, and nothing has changed.

I decided to see if I could create a cube for my Eldest who is away at college. Her school's colors are blue and white (M for Messiah, F for Falcons) and her initials. The other two panels represent two of her favorite things to photograph, flowers and snowflakes.

It's still a work in progress, but I'm getting there.

Middlest is a fishing fanatic, and he's done other artwork that has shown up in my reviews that were fishy based. Once again, he has crafted a Bass...

Youngest immediately saw the relation between the beads and the pixelated world of Minecraft, so he decided to make some minecraft heads. He did the math in * his * head, and figured out how many of each color of beads he would need to complete each one. We discovered that there are more red, white, and blue beads than any other color, which made looking for greens, blacks, and browns a little more difficult (however, it worked well for my college colors purposes. ;)). As a result, he experimented with different color combinations for his heads, which I think was pretty nifty. He also had a pattern set in his head, so it was easy for him to complete each one.

As with any set of mixed beads, no matter the type, it's always easier to work on if they are sorted out, so it was my habit to grab a handful of beads and sort them into an empty ice cube tray as I was looking for my particular colors. You can see it in the photo to the left. Made it sooo much easier for us all further down the road as we looked for specific colors. I was a little surprised that there were only a few blacks and oranges included, as black is a pretty basic color, and my youngest would have appreciated more browns (for his minecraft camo colors...), but overall, I am very pleased with the variety of colors available to play with.

A few learning curve notes:

~ one ~ make sure that the beads are all facing the same direction. ie there is a top (with a line) and a bottom. ;) You can see the first attempt at the fish, I forgot to give that information to Middlest, and you can see that the beads don't sit as uniformly (disregard the fact that some are sideways, it got knocked into... :p ).
~ two ~ it may take a few tries with the tool to remove some of the projects~ the right touch that is gentle enough not to pull the beads apart... it took me a few tries before I got it right. The good news is that if a couple of beads break off, all you have to do is put them back and spritz with water.
~ three ~ don't soak the beads! Just spritz them. It will take them far longer to dry. And don't forget to tap the board to remove excess water, as that also extends the drying time.

close up of the beads once spritzed~
You can see them starting to join together! 

All in all, I think this is a great project to pull out on a rainy day, during spring or summer vacation... any time that your kids need a little extra something to keep their hands and minds occupied. I also appreciate that it is an exercise in plotting and planning, and can be used for math/graphing exercises as well. In the future, I hope to pull up some cross stitch patterns and let those be used to create some items as well. Fun stuff! :)

Not So Nutty Nitty Gritty 

• Company: Zirrly 
• Product: Super Beads Mega Pack 
• Ages: 5-tween+
• Price: $18.98

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Blessings~

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