Crafting with iron beads: good for development

One of our favorite crafting activities remains crafting with the old, familiar iron beads. I don't think I'm lying if we made over a hundred ironing bead creations this past year. But why are iron beads so fun and good to play with? And what types of iron beads are there actually?

You can read all about it in this blog!

Why is crafting with iron beads good??

Crafting with iron beads is not only fun to do but also good for development.

– Good for fine motor skills

The fine motor skills are greatly developed while picking up and placing the iron beads on the board. Iron beads are tiny beads, so it requires some precision to pick up and place properly with the hole over the peg.
For the smallest children, there are also slightly larger beads available so they are easier to pick up and place on a pin. For these little kids, this is already a really great way to work on fine motor skills. Then, when you find that your child can easily pick up and place the larger beads, you can switch to the small iron beads.

Copy iron beads patterns

When you have an example of a pattern for your child, he or she can copy it. This is a great way for your child to learn puzzles, connections and patterns. Adjust the difficulty of the pattern to the age of the child.

Think of a heart with two or three colors for a 6-year-old to a real Pokémon made of iron beads for an 8-year-old.

Different kinds of iron beads

There are many kinds of ironing beads, both in size, and color and from different brands. We are most enthusiastic about ironing beads from Hama, because of the good quality and the size range. We have listed some of the most popular and best-selling beads for you.

–Glitter iron beads

Who doesn't like glitter??! With the Hama glitter beads you can make every creation even more cheerful.

–Glow in the dark

The glow in the dark beads light up creatively in the dark. Craft fun shapes, animals or letters and hang them for example on your closet or against your bed with double-sided tape. When the lights go out, the iron beads light up beautifully and your son or daughter can enjoy the beautiful luminous crafts for a while longer.

– Golden iron beads

Hama even has gold beads! Extra fun to craft Christmas pendants from these, for example, that you hang in the window or even in your Christmas tree.

– Neon colors

If you like nice bright colors, then choose the neon color beads. Think bright orange, yellow and green To get extra glitzy creations!

The base plates

There are many different base plates for sale for ironing beads. The most classic shapes are the heart, circle, square, star and hexagon. These are the basic figures it all started with, but there are many more base plates these days, of course. Think Christmas figures, horses, emoticons, fruit, mermaids, dino’s and jungle animals.

There are also special sets with which you can make key rings, for example.

With each base plate you can also vary yourself. As an example, of course you don't have to fill the heart base plate completely: you can also make a few edges and then stop and iron them out. This way you get an open heart, which looks very different from a full heart.

The best ironing beads themes

There are many themed beads for sale nowadays. By theme’s I mean certain brands or children’s movies. For example, you can buy ironing beads from the Disney princesses ironing beads, from Frozen and from Cars.

But also from Toy Story, Finding Nemo, Paw Patrol, Woezel and Pip and Minions. The choice is huge, so chances are there is something to make your child happy!