Thursday, March 22, 2018

Review: Super Beads by Zirrly

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Issac enjoys doing almost anything crafty and he especially loves things that are vehicles or somehow related to vehicles. He currently has an obsession with a Ford F-150 and constantly talks about how that's the vehicle he wants to own when he turns 16. Granted that's almost six years away, so he's got some time. I knew when I was looking at the Super Beads  from Zirrly that his first choice would more than likely be the 3D Car and Truck set.  When I showed him our options he immediately said he wanted the Ferrari!! The 3D Car and Truck set had a red car in it and he thought it looked like a sports car!  We had tried other bead sets with my older kids, but Issac was too young at the time for him to be successful. The type we had used required an iron to fuse the beads together, but with the Super Beads from Zirrly water is the agent that fuses the beads together. When you have younger children working on projects parents are going to chose water over heat almost always. 
Super Beads 3D Car and Truck
The day that our kit arrived Issac wanted to open it up and get started right away.  We got a nice, colorful box that had pictures on the front of the projects we'd be making as well as a list of what was included on the back.  



The above is what was included in our set minus the yellow Super Beads that didn't make the picture. I liked that the colors were in fairly small bags, so we didn't have a ton of beads out that we weren't working with at the time.  We had the two paper patterns and they were on fairly sturdy paper.  It was also helpful for Issac that the patterns have cutouts that match those on the trays to help line up the project. We also had a great little tool that aided in putting the beads on as well as removing the finished product.  




I liked the setup that came in the box because there is a plastic container that holds all the product and it's great for the kids to keep the beads in while they are working. We found that by keeping the beads in the tray less ended up on the floor which meant we didn't come up greatly short while finishing up our projects.  Issac decided that he wanted to work on the orange jeep first, but before he could complete it he decided to jump to the red car. He calls the red car his Ferrari and was truly so excited to work on both of them that he just went back and forth. There wasn't an issue to work on both vehicles at the same time because the set included two trays, so he was able to have one tray for each project and work on whichever he preferred.  He did have a little trouble when starting the jeep and following the pattern. He somehow just got above the pattern line that he could see through the tray. He was able to quickly fix his error once we noticed it by just removing that line of beads.  He really liked the little green tool that came in the set. It helped him make sure his beads were on correct and lift the finished product off the tray.  Issac often times has difficulty working with small items or anything that takes a lot of fine motor skills. He more often than not also gets tired more quickly, but I found he didn't have too much trouble while working on this set. He was able to pick up and maneuver the Super Beads without hardly any issues. He dropped a few, but he didn't get frustrated and was able to follow the process with minimal help from me. He really enjoyed spraying the water to fuse the beads together. We left ours overnight before we pulled them off the tray. The directions recommend about an hour, but we were usually working on them after dinner. I did have to watch him carefully as he removed the items because a few had thin rows and he ripped those apart while taking them off the tray. Thankfully we were able to put it back on and spray again to refuse that section. 


When it came time to actually put the vehicles together Issac struggled a bit more.  The directions have great pictures which really helped him be able to work through each step. Where he struggled was when he actually took the two side pieces and needed to connect them with the plastic pipes. That was a real struggle for him to get each of the pieces to meet up. I have to admit that I helped him and I struggled at that point as well.  At one point on the second vehicle my husband and I were both working to match the parts together.  I'm not sure if we approached it in a way that made it harder or if that is truly difficult to mesh all those pieces together. Even with that issue Issac really enjoyed these and wants to do more projects. He was able to complete almost both of the entire vehicles on his own. His favorite part might have been to spray the water to mesh his Super Beads  together. I think maybe the 3D set wasn't the best fit for Issac and if we had chosen one that wasn't 3D he could have completed the project totally on his own. That said he still felt he was successful on making his vehicles and that's what's truly important I think! 











Sadly we somehow lost one of the pieces that keeps the wheels together, so one of our vehicles doesn't have wheels. I have a feeling it got knocked to the ground and probably swept up.  That could so easily happen that I think it would be nice if maybe one extra of those rods were included. We are going to try and see what we can come up with to replace the rod, so both vehicles have wheels. He actually put large wheels on the front of the car and the small ones on the back. He apparently had his own style for the wheels! There were plenty of all the colors as well as the plastic pipes to do both projects and we still have beads. Issac plans to use them to make up his own project.  

What I liked about the Super Beads set from Zirrly were that they were Non-Toxic, no heat or glue were needed.  They fit well on the board, so when Issac bumped the table they didn't go flying all over the place.  They also didn't come off the pegs while he was working on the project which was an issue we had previously with other beads. The best part of all is probably that the beads fuse together with plain old water.  What I didn't care for in the 3D Car and Truck set was that the process to connect the pieces to make the vehicles 3D seemed harder than I thought and wasn't something that Issac, or really even I, could easily do. That being said I would highly recommend trying out these Super Beads. Issac says he recommends them to ALL of his friends! I have my eye on the Mega Pack because the project options would be endless with that kit! The crew reviewed a variety of sets, so make sure you head over and check out what the other families made. 








As always don't forget to follow the social media sites for the most up-to-date information on the products. 






Super Beads {Zirrly Reviews}

2 comments:

  1. How fun! I love all the pictures of Issac. I hope you find something to fix your wheel problem!

    ReplyDelete

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