Beados Crafts for Toddlers | Holiday Gift Guide Giveaway

Holiday Gift Guide (3)We’re all about encouraging arts and craft at our home…as long as they don’t involve any mess! This year I’ve told family and friends to get toddler approved craft kits as gifts instead of more toys to add to our never ending collection. I recently received a Beados kit and it said it was meant for those aged 4 and up. Now you may remember that Little Monkey JUST turned three last month and so I wasn’t sure if she was ready for this…only one way to find out eh?

 

Disclosure : I received a complimentary kit, but as always, opinions are totally mine. 

 

We pulled out the Beados starter pack one morning as Little Monkey whined about being bored and I will have to admit that I MAY have been just as excited as she was when we saw the pod pen, pods and fun coloured beads. Beados was advertised as “No Heat, No Glue, No Mess” and that’s really what appealed to me. I allow no crayons or markers after an incident that involved our walls and couches being drawn on, so this no mess business sounded perfect for me.

Beados kits toddler, toddler crafts,So the basic concept with Beados is that there’s design trays where you slot in the shape you’re going to design and then load the pods with the required coloured beads. Parents, you will have to help line up the design (ensure the circles correspond perfectly) and fill the pods for the younger ones. Even I ended up spilling some beads on the floor, which is not good when Baby Boy is around! The beads are tiny and definitely should be kept away from babies but I did read up all about ingesting them JUST incase. Once everything was set up, Little Monkey was able to click her way through the designs. We started with a simple ice cream and soon she was onto the harder ones like bicycles and horses.

Not only are Beados fun and encourage imaginative play, they also help to develop fine motor skills and assist with colour recognition. Little Monkey spent many an afternoon (and some nights!) playing with the kit. It took her a week to get through all the designs and I think we’ll have to buy her some more refill kits very soon! The kids spend their time dropping the coloured beads onto the design tray to form the shape of the image and then you spray the design with water and let it dry for an hour before handing over the finished piece to the kid. Don’t lick the shape ( I know I’m weird!), it taste so bizarre and chemically (as expected). All said and done I think this is an extremely reasonably priced present for the kids on your holiday gift list. Available at most major retailers the Beados kits range from $15 t o $30. 

 

Beados, toddler crafts, giveaway,baby and life gift guideWe have only played with the starter kit, which meant that I needed to pull out our Baby Bullet storage containers to store the extra beads and at times Little Monkey got frustrated when her elbow would toss a bead the wrong way and then I’d have to help her daintily move those beads. Some of the other Beados kits have trays and tweezers which would be the perfect solution to our problems.

Beados has given one lucky winner a Starter Kit AND a Beados Quick Dry Design Station ( which will cut down the drying time AND has an awesome storage tray ( I need to buy that!). Oh there’s also a tweezer so stray beads can be easily brought back to the right spot. Enter below to win these kits! Canada only. 

 

Have you checked out the other giveaways in our Gift Guide?

 

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  • Veronica Bohan
    December 3, 2014 at 3:41 pm

    Yay crafts!

  • Lesley Morgan
    December 3, 2014 at 5:19 pm

    This is what I plan to do this year! Ask for craft gifts instead of more toys 🙂

  • Nina
    December 3, 2014 at 11:51 pm

    Cool Beados

  • Anonymous
    December 4, 2014 at 1:04 am

    Thanks for the review my niece would love this for Christmas!

  • Bethany Smith
    December 10, 2014 at 7:36 am

    My daughter would love this!

  • DARLENE W
    December 12, 2014 at 10:54 pm

    Looks like she was having lots of fun

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