As I may have mentioned before I am not brilliant at crafts. However I like my children to do crafts. Crafts encourage creativity, patience, fine motor control and leave children with a sense of achievement. So I am always on the hunt for crafts which we can do together, and which won’t leave me in tears in a puddle of glue, glitter and coloured feathers.

When Craft Merrily asked me to review Hama Beads I was hopeful that perhaps here was a craft for me. We received two kits, a Midi Hama Beads set which is aimed at five years plus so perfect for my eldest Super Kid and a Maxi Hama Beads set, for Robo Boy, which is great for children three years upwards.

So this Saturday I put on my bravest face and sat down to do the Hama Beads with the children. Super Kid had a friend visiting, so him and his friend got stuck into a theirs, a cars set with a car board and a square board which could be used for any design.

Robo Boy had a dinosaur set with a large dinosaur board.

 Basically you have a board with pegs on it, onto which you place the beads. If the board is in a particular shape you create that shape, if not you can make any design you want to. My top tip would be to make sure you have no gaps or small bits to your design or the beads won’t stick together at the end.

After you have made your design you iron the Hama Beads together. They are melty beads so you put the supplied piece of paper over the top and set your iron fairly high. Then run the iron over the paper until the beads have fused together. Remove the paper, and once your creation is cooled remove it from the board. Here are the things my children made.

We really enjoyed making our Hama Bead creations. It is really fun and kept their attention for ages, which is always impressive. I will be definitely be buying some more kits for them.