Hama Bead Jewellery Bowl - Mother's Day Crafts

You may have noticed we've become slightly Hama Bead obsessed in the My Mummy's Pennies house recently, they are a great fun, low cost craft material with almost endless possibilities so why not?

One thing I especially love about crafting with Hama Beads is that it appeals to both my children despite a 3 year age difference. Ben is six with co-ordination and fine motor difficulties so crafting with small beads is great for developing these skills, he also has a great creative flare and a love of patterns which can be expressed when crafting with Hama. Hama beads are also ideal for supporting his school work and we have recently been using them to help him visual his times tables.

My daughter is 3 and so far hasn't shown any of the developmental delays that Ben did, she is a whizz at popping the little beads on the peg boards and also loves creating patterns. We use Hama beads as an educational tool with her too, identifying colours and counting out the beads.

So anyway on to today's craft which would be ideal as a mothers day gift... (note to any Dad's who have left things to the last minute, send Mum off for a soak in the bath tomorrow and get crafty with the kids!)

Hama beads are ideal for children from aged three upwards but for some younger children filling a peg board can test their patience, so a great way to use them is to make Hama bead bowls.

I remember seeing this post from Lucy's Madhouse a while ago and it inspired me to try out something similar.

I have a few pieces of jewellery that I wear every day and take off when I go to bed at night, at the moment I just dump them on my bedside table but they can often slide off onto the floor so I've been wanting a nice little jewellery bowl to keep them in.

This is a really simple craft that I did together with my three year old daughter...

Step one

Find an ovenproof bowl and lightly grease it with oil

Step two 

Pour in the Hama Beads. We decided to do our bowl in the shape of a flower, so we separated our beads into different colours, and poured each colour in separately. We then shaped the outdide to look like petals and used cream beads to make and outline just one bead thick, along the edge of the petals. We also used a few cream beads in the centre to make the middle of the flower.

Step three

Bake!

Pop in a preheated oven at around 200 degrees for around 5 - 10 minutes but do keep an eye on it and keep checking as it will vary depending on how large your bowl is.

Step four

Allow to cool, When the bowl comes out of the over the beads will still be soft and very hot so wait until the bowl has cooled down completely and the beads have hardened before trying to remove as not only could you get a nasty burn you will bend your beads right out of shape!

So there we go; a lovingly made Mother's Day gift in four easy steps!

You could make these in different shapes and sizes and for a multitude of uses!

Do let me know what you make! I would love to see your creations...

This craft was made with beads we bought our self but the lovely folks at DKL Toys have sent us some sets to have fun with so look out for reviews of these coming very soon and why not check out the great selection of Hama sets on their website?

LEGO Duplo Number Train Review

You may have noticed my son, Ben loves his LEGO and like many little sisters Elizabeth is always wanting to emulate her big brother. With the small LEGO bricks not being suitable for her yet at just 2 years old, we bought her a few LEGO DUPLO sets at Christmas which she loves playing with and building things just like her big brother. The size of the bricks are ideal for her little hands and she is able to easily stack them together and pull them apart without too much force.

Knowing how much Elizabeth loves both building and trains (We have to stop and wave as the stream train goes past on the way in to ballet class every week!) I jumped at the chance of reviewing the LEGO DUPLO Number Train for Netmums.

When the parcel arrived, Elizabeth was transfixed by the bright and colourful packaging, pointing to the numbers on the box and getting very excited about opening it.

From a parents point of view I found the packaging to to be clear, showing the intended age range and giving a good idea of what would be found inside, including a 'to scale' image of a brick.

As a parent you will know that toddlers don't have much (or any!) patience so having something that is ready to play with as soon as it comes out of the box (and the plastic bags) is fantastic. Elizabeth immediately started putting the the train carriages together to copy the pictures on the box. I found the pieces to be well made and just the right size and shape for her to easily handle. There were enough pieces in the set for her to do her own thing and create towers as well as the train. I also thought the added features of the train driver and the dog were really lovely and Elizabeth enjoyed chatting to them while they rode the train she had built and they then climbed the tall tower.

I was really impressed with the wide range of skills that this set encourages. As with all building sets, the LEGO DUPLO Number Train helps develop fine motor skills and encourages imaginative play, but this particular set has so many added dimensions that are relevant right across the age range of 2 to 5 years. The bright, chunky bricks are great for identifying shapes and colours and the 10 numbered bricks of course give an introduction to counting. As a toddler gets older there are also patterns to be found and even more fun to be had.

As well as watching Elizabeth's imagination in action as she played freely with the bricks, we also played some structured games, asking her to find a particular number or a colour of brick, she enjoyed this and responded really well, easily identifying the lower end of the bold numbers. And because it was 'hands on' rather than from a book, it held her attention a lot longer than usual.

Elizabeth has played with this set on quite a few occasions over the last week and even her 5 year old brother, who usually finds her toys 'babyish' and 'boring' joined in and helped her to create a bridge for the train and 'taught' her the different numbers. The amount of pieces in this set really encourages children to play together as there are plenty to 'share' around and they can work together to get the numbers in order.

I would say that Elizabeth's favourite thing about this set has to be the the carriage with it's hinged roof, she was very taken with this and it was used in everything she created, even a simple tower!

I love this set, every time it is played with I see something new and different about it and I can see it lasting well and being a firm favourite over the next few years. It's a great unisex toy that will appeal to Elizabeth as she goes through different stages of development.

At an RRP of just £12.99 this is a set that I would wholeheartedly recommend to fellow mums of toddlers and preschool aged children. It's great value and will last not only through time but also through your child's different stages of learning.

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