Arts and crafts have always been something which Florence is interested in. Any form of craft activity really, she’s just super keen; from first drawings to her quite accomplished talent at the age of four with most arty projects, she has always been able to spend hours concentrating and creating. Quite frankly I’m absurdly proud of her for it. I’m absurdly proud of her for everything she does it has to be said but she really, really is very clever when it comes to art!

I knew then, that Beados would be just up her street and when I was asked if she would like to review it I had no worries that she would, although at the lowest age they say it is suitable for, thoroughly enjoy making things out of little beads!

We were sent the Beados Quick Dry Design Studio which comes with two boards, 6 design templates, tweezers, a water spray, some suckers and a stand for finished products, the drying machine, a bead tray and of course, the beads. 500 of them to be exact. The idea is to use a design template slotted under one of the bards which is see though and has dents for the beads to sit in, then follow the colour codes on the template to drop in beads that match using the tweezers. Once the design is finished you spray them with water and dry them under the machine (which takes 2 x AA batteries – not included) for fifteen minutes.

Florence hose her design and got to work with very little help from me at all. It took her a while to work out how to use the tweezers, which are much easier to use and chunkier than regular tweezers but within about 10 minutes she was able to pick the beads up perfectly. She also found it easy to do with her fingers. Look how she got on!

Florence enjoys sitting down and concentrating so this was JUST up her street but it is quite time consuming and fiddly so if a little one found it hard to sit and spend time doing something and preferred an instant result then this would not be the activity for them. Saying that, it is far easier than similar products I’ve seen and the fact it requires no glue or heat at all makes it very safe and something they can do entirely on their own.

The end result is very pleasing too and my initial worries when I opened the packet that 500 beads didn’t seem many, actually isn’t a concern at all as really and truly there are more than enough for all the designs on the cards. I like that you can buy a refill pack for £4.99 as well as extra accessories and other themed packs. This is a very clever idea and Florence enjoys using it very much.

Negative points would be that the bead tray comes with less compartments than the amount of colour beads meaning you have to mix the colours up in a couple of them. It is also very flimsy and probably won’t last long which is a shame. If I had designed it I would have made it with more compartments and more like a tupperware box WITH a lid so that you can pop everything away. As it stands I will buy a box to keep all the beads in. Aside from that this is a brilliant product and well worth the price tag of £19.99. I also like the fact that if you make sure you have the batteries there is very little set up at all and you can get going straight away!

I was sent the Beados Quick Dry Design Studio for the purpose of an honest review.

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