The Finding Dory Nemo And Friends AquaBeads Set Review

I Am An AquaBeader!

I am very pleased to tell you that I was recently chosen to be a part of the ‘Aquabeaders’ online group. As part of this I will be sharing and promoting a wide range of Aquabeads sets and products with you, my wonderful readers.

What Are Aquabeads?

Aquabeads are small, coloured beads which when sprayed with water become sticky and can mould together to create a 2D design. There are a range of similar products including Hama Beads and Hot Beads also on the market but they require a hot iron to bond the beads together and are therefore far less suitable for young children.

 

The Finding Dory, Nemo And Friends AquaBeads Set

We were recently sent ‘The Finding Dory, Nemo And Friends AquaBeads Set’ to sample, review and to share. My daughter E was over the moon when the parcel arrived and despite being shattered following a busy morning at Nursery she begged me to open the set right then and there as she literally couldn’t wait to get stuck in.

Whats Included?

We swiftly unwrapped the packaging and delved into the box to see what was inside. Included in ‘The Finding Dory Nemo And Friends AquaBeads Set’ is:

• 1 x Clear Plastic AquaBeads Layout Tray
• 1 x AquaBeads Sprayer
• 3 x Template Sheets (with five different images to use)
• 11x Bags of Beads (yellow gems, green, brown, orange, white, blue, pink gems, black, red, orange, blue gems).
• 1 x Instruction Sheet

Unlike the larger Aquabeads sets, The Finding Dory Nemo And Friends AquaBeads Set does not include a bead palette/ design tray nor does it include an Aquabeads bead pen. These items can be purchased separately but are not necessarily required for smaller projects.

 

The Design Process

We began by sorting the beads according to their colour into dividers. As we had previously acquired an Aquabeads bead palette/ design tray we used this to separate the different coloured beads into. As this isn’t included in this set you may wish to use a small plate/ tray.

My daughter then selected one of the Nemo templates and we placed the template into the layout tray following the arrows printed on the base of the sheet for guidance.

We began selecting the correct beads using our previously acquired bean pen, it soon became apparent that my three-year old daughter was far more able than I had first given her credit for as she found using her fingers to place the beads upon the layout tray far easier.

Given that my daughter is still only three-years old I was rather surprised at how simple she found ‘aquabeading’ to be. According to the packaging Aquabeads are suitable for use with children ages four years and over. However, with the correct amount of supervision I believe that this product may be used by children of a younger age, my daughter certainly proved this to be the case.

E was surprisingly patient throughout the process of placing the beads onto the layout tray, she was also extremely accurate more so than myself at times! It took us almost twenty minutes to complete the design together.

As I watched E working upon her Aquabeads design it struck me how independent she is these days, how able she is to concentrate upon a given task and how different she is from her brother who finds following instructions frustrating and often difficult despite being four years older than E.

I was so impressed by how careful E was whilst creating her design, she showed huge amounts of effort whilst working and seemed so very proud of her finished piece.

Once we had finished we filled the Aquabeads sprayer up with water and we each took turns to the spray the design. I found that the Aquabeads needed a fair amount of water to stick together and once they had been doused a few times we left them upright on the layout tray to dry.

The Drying Process

After the Aquabeads had finished drying we then peeled the design from the layout tray and left the finished work to dry for a further few hours. The instructions state that Aquabeads take only one hour to dry but for a higher quality result I would suggest leaving your work to dry for a few hours at the least.

We both enjoyed each and every minute of using the Aquabeads set together and we have since created several other designs using Aquabeads, all of which are now proudly bluetacked to E’s bedroom door on display.

Set Ranges

There are a wide range of Aqua Beads sets available including basic starter sets, jewel sets, Frozen, Cinderella, Minnie Mouse, Mario, Finding Dory, Hello Kitty and Sylvanian Family sets to name just a few. Each set includes a range of templates from which a range of designs can be created, alternatively children can use their imagination to create their own designs, anything is possible!

 

Pricing And Where To Buy AquaBeads

The Finding Dory Nemo And Friends AquaBeads Set is currently available from a wide range of retailers including Amazon and Toys R Us as well as many other well-known shops. This set is currently in the half price sale retailing for only £9.99 at Toys R Us.

Final Thoughts

Aquabeads make the ideal gift for either a boy or a girl, there a wide range of sets available each offering a huge amount of templates to choose from.

Aquabeads are not only fun to use, they also promote a wide range of skills from learning patience, practicing hand-eye coordination, improving dexterity, encouraging imagination, helping children to recognise colours and learning independence all of which can be done whilst having great fun and creating a physical piece of Art which can be kept and actually used.

Children can use Aquabeads to create key rings, jewellery, door signs, hanging decorations or whatever they wish given the correct materials to add to their finished designs.

We loved using ‘The Finding Dory Nemo And Friends AquaBeads Set’ together and look forward to reviewing and featuring many more sets in the future!

For further information upon pricing, packs and where to buy Aquabeads visit www.aquabeadsart.com/uk

Disclosure: We were sent the above product for the purpose of this post however all opinions are E’s and my own.