Sunday Suggestions

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We all know bringing out the arts and crafts bag, box, bin, whatever you got, is one of the best ways to beat the "I'm boreds". However, in my house I know I will pay dearly for that hour or so of fun. Because lets face it, the crafts they are usually messy. And I've found that the amount of fun they have with a project directly correlates to the size of the mess I will have to clean up afterwards.

But we have stumbled across one project that takes hours of time, can be done alone or in groups and both my 5 year old and my 9 year love to do. What is this amazing creation that both boys and girls we know spend hours making projects with, you want to know?

Perler Beads.

Have you heard of them? I hadn't either and we were at a friends about a year ago and they were using them. So unbelievably simple I could not have imagined how addictive they would be. They are literally little tiny colored plastic beads that the kids arrange on a peg board and then mom (depending on how old the kids are) irons them so they melt together. Seriously, that's the genius craft project that my daughter was begging me to buy for her birthday slumber party last year.
That bucket of like 6,000 beads was less than $15 at the local craft store. They can of course be bought in bigger quantities at PerlerBeads online store. The site also has more complicated projects, like little plastic purses to be sewn together too. I think I'll keep that to myself for now. Sounds like a lot more work for the mommy.

Speaking of work for the mommy. I know, you're out there saying, iron? IRON the beads together? ARE you crazy? I don't iron our clothes. Okay, maybe that was me in the beginning. But really it's more just sitting a hot iron on top of some parchment paper on the beads and melting them. And here in lies the true beauty of the perler beads. At the previously mentioned slumber party, I kid you not, six 8 year old girls sat for 3 solid hours making these little beaded treasures. They did not argue, and there was no competition. It was a 3 hour gossip session! And I was just over in the corner ironing their projects. LISTENING TO EVERY WORD! Because I was doing a job they didn't object to nosey old mom being around. It was so insightful!

Remember these results are not typical. With only my own two girls we are looking at about an hours worth of entertainment. However, if you are so inclined you could invite over a few friends for the afternoon and then those kids parents will owe you. Hey, hey, two birds with one perler bead!

Now I must go investigate the eery quiet down the children's hallway. No doubt on Thursday my post will start with: I confess that writing for this blog often leads to child neglect and huge messes to clean up.

5 comments:

I LOVED Perler beads when I was a kid. We started doing them with Girl Scouts, and just kept the kits around...I lost track of them as I got older and moved out. I'm so tempted to get a kit and play with them again.

June 22, 2008 at 1:09 PM  

I currently have three creations on my counter waiting to be ironed...granted they have been there waiting for three days...yes, I am lazy...I am good with that!!

June 22, 2008 at 7:19 PM  

My girls love these too.
At first I was afraid of the mess, but it is not so bad. the ironing is very quick on my part. At almost 15 and 12 1/2 they still can sit for a long time and CREATE. A great project.

June 22, 2008 at 11:27 PM  

I totally remember kids doing those when I was little.

June 23, 2008 at 11:50 AM  

LOVE these things! My daughter AND son love to do these. Hours of fun (and quiet!) to be had :-)

June 23, 2008 at 5:19 PM  

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