A Review of Super Beads from Zirrly

My children really enjoy doing arts and crafts each day, so we were so happy to have the chance to review Super Beads from Zirrly. We were fortunate enough to review the 3D Car and Truck kit from Zirrly. When the box of Super Beads arrived, my four-year-old son was so excited. He turned the box over and over as he studied the designs, colors, and information printed on the outside of the box. He wanted to put them together right then and there but I told him we would need to wait for a time when his older brother was free so we could work on the project together.

Having never completed a project using any type of fuse beads before, I wanted to make sure I understand the instructions thoroughly.

After watching several videos on YouTube about Super Beads and reading (and re-reading) the instructions, we were ready to start the project. With the additional instructions provided by Zirrly sitting on the table, we emptied all the packets of beads so we could organize them. I gathered together several more containers to hold them as we worked on the two different projects at the same time. We needed a total of five containers to hold all the beads that we would need for the project.

Our 3D Car and Truck kit contained the following:

• Red Super Beads
• Orange Super Beads
• Yellow Super Beads
• Black Super Beads
• White Super Beads
• Spray bottle
• 2 puzzle trays
• Plastic tool (to aid in lifting the completed design off the puzzle tray – I found this to be very valuable)
• Plastic pipes (of two sizes)
• 2 templates (for the red car and the orange truck)
• 4 sets of wheels
• Instruction manual with photographs
• Separate instructions also provided

My two boys worked on the beads for the red car, while I worked on placing the beads for the orange truck. My two-year-old daughter was busy ‘helping’ all three of us. My daughter provided actual help by threading the Super Beads in the correct patterns onto the plastic pipes when we reached that step of the instructions.

Some tips to remember when placing the beads onto the trays as provided on the Super Bead Instructions sheet:

-          Ensure hands are dry

-          Place the beads with the lined end facing up

-          Let your bead surface dry for at least 60 minutes

I found these to be the three most important tips as we were putting together our project.

My four-year-old son had a fantastic time putting together the car and truck and couldn’t wait to play with them. He is eagerly awaiting his birthday in hopes that he might get some more Super Bead projects from Zirrly. I think we will be looking into the Super Beads Mega Pack to enable him to use his creativity to make his own designs. When my daughter gets older, we will also take a look at the Super Beads Jewelry Set for an arts and crafts project for her to do.

Unfortunately, I did have a few problems with our projects. I had difficulty removing the beads from the pattern board. I had to put them back on the board several times and re-spray. I probably needed to use more water when I sprayed the initial time to ensure they fused together.

I also had difficulty when putting together the two sides of the cars to make them 3D. I felt like my fingers were too big to properly put all the plastic pipes into the proper bead locations. In fact, I did not match up the orange truck properly so it is a little lopsided. Oops! This mistake did not affect my son’s happiness when playing with it, though.

Even with these few difficulties, my family had a fun time with these projects. There are also many great features to Super Beads from Zirrly.

Some of the fantastic features of Super Beads include:

• No need to use a hot iron
• No need for glue
• Just use water to fuse the Super Beads together 
• Completed designs are flexible
• Promotes fine motor skills development
• Safe and Non-Toxic

I would recommend Super Beads from Zirrly for families who want to try a new way to work with fuse beads for their arts and crafts projects. It is so much safer when you do not need to use a hot iron. In fact, my four-year-old was able to use the spray bottle provided to fuse the beads together.

To learn more about Super Beads, check out the other reviews from the Homeschool Review Crew.