It’s always fun to experiment with new ways of crafting. Z tried out Beados recently for the first time and made some cute designs. This activity took a fair amount of concentration, and is quite delicate to do but is great fine motor practice. The more he worked on this, the quicker he was able to work as he built up his technique and we were really happy with the end results.
We used the Beados Quick Dry Design Studio (affiliate) which was a lot better than other similar water bead picture products we’ve tried in the past, where the children have been impatient for the pictures to dry so didn’t give them a chance to stick together! The design of this Beados Quick Dry studio is really cute and the addition of a fan to help the beads stick together and dry quickly is really handy.
The set includes
- The quick dry studio with fan
- Two base trays
- Water spray bottle
- Tweezer pen
- Bead tray
- Seven colours of beads, including glittery ones
- Accessories to turn your creations into bag tags or string to hang
- Design cards with 6 designs
To make the pictures, you place your design card underneath the tray to show the template to follow, then using the tweezer pen, carefully pick up each bead and place it on top of the design shown. Pinching with the tweezers is great fine motor practise, working children’s hand muscles in a fun way. Since Z was really motivated to finish his pictures he persevered with it and completed a few pictures even though it was difficult for him at first.
Once your picture is completed on the tray, you need to spray with water and then place under the dryer.
For the dryer fan, you need 2 x AA batteries which are not supplied, but these are easy to add just at the back of the design studio.
You will need to leave your design to dry for atleast 10 minutes under the fan. We left ours for slightly longer just to be sure it was totally done, and turned them over mid way to dry both sides.
The end results are great, the designs have stuck together really well and look very cute!
Here are a couple that we made:
Bunny
Teddy:
Once you finish all the Beados in your pack, you can easily buy a refill to keep on using the set. There are other designs and colours available too.
The set is recommended for age 4+. I feel like it may be tricky for those at the very bottom of that age range, but if your child does have strong fine motor skills at that age and is very motivated by this kind of activity then I’m sure they would be fine at age 4, perhaps with a little help.
It is a fun craft activity, and has no mess and no heat, so if children are able to complete the pictures without help then it’s one that they can do independently. Keep away from little siblings under 3 years old, due to the small size of the beads.
Anna Marikar, mum of four and seasoned blogger, has spent over a decade sharing her parenting journey and passion for kid-friendly crafts and free printables.
Her easy-to-follow craft ideas and practical parenting advice have transformed In The Playroom into a cherished resource for parents.
I love the rabbit, it’s awesome. I really should look these up because they look like great fun and somethin my boys would enjoy 🙂
How cute! That looks a lot of fun x
This isn’t something we’ve come across before – I don’t think Ben would quite have the patience for it yet if I’m honest but I love the idea of using it to develop fine motor skills.
Thanks for sharing your review on #TriedTested this week 🙂 x