I recently came across a bucket of pop beads by Parents at Target - which of course brought back lots of memories from the 80's. If you don't remember these...they are little plastic beads with a hole on one side (shall we call it the female side? :) and a..we'll just say that there is a "male" side too. You "pop" them together to make an assortment of colorful beaded necklaces and bracelets. We bought them that day for a friend's birthday, but I couldn't help but go back and buy some later for my own girls. This particular set is fabulous. It has the typical size round beads and an assortment of other shapes and textures too, plus a decent amount of large beads too which are great for smaller hands like Maddie's. Also, there are some new surprises with the addition of rings and bracelet forms upon which you can snap your choice of beads as well as nifty little things which you can use to make dangling charms and special beads that come together to look like flowers. Even I had fun sitting there on the carpet with my girls designing jewelry. I was especially intrigued by the versatility and the variety...leave it to Parents to turn pop beads into a tool for helping kids develop small motor coordination, creativity, and learn about color and texture.
After reading your post on the beads, I went right to Target and got the bucket of beads for my kids too! We were having a restless morning and needed something new to stimulate us all, and these were just perfect. Kara needs a little more help with them, but she's just as happy to work through the beads as her older brother is to cover himself in jewelry that he has made! Great tip!
Posted by: Allison | September 16, 2008 at 09:20 AM
I am soooo excited to see this! I was talking to my niece about these and want to buy some for my 18 year old!
Posted by: C Petarra | April 27, 2009 at 12:32 AM