Our family was chosen to do a product review and received a Mega Pack bag of Super Beads in the mail recently from Zirrly. Basically, they are little beads that are round in shape and have a hole in the center. You place the hole on a tiny plastic spike that sticks up out of a form and when you get all the spaces filled on your form, you end up with a beautiful design. Then you need to spray it with water and leave it to dry for the recommended time and it sticks together and stays together. Read on to find out our experience using these beads.
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[ctt template=”4″ link=”BoZUu” via=”yes” ]Our family was chosen to do a product review and received a Mega Pack bag of Super Beads in the mail recently from Zirrly. Read this article to find out our experience using these beads.[/ctt]
Product Review of Zirrly Mega Pack of Super Beads
A little over a month ago, we received a pack of Super Beads in the mail. What are Super Beads, you may wonder? They are similar to other beads that fuse together when heated or glued, but Zirrly got rid of the ironing or gluing part and made it so they would fuse together with just water! We had to test this theory. How can beads stay together with just water and some drying time? Won't they fall apart? The Zirrly website says, “Even if the Super Beads happen to come apart, just spray them again and the beads will re-fuse together.” The package also says they are safe and non-toxic, but I decided to err on the safe side and do our bead projects when my toddler was napping.
We received the Mega Pack to review, which comes with: 4,500 Super Beads (I did not count them, but it looks like a lot!), 4 design templates, 2 spray bottles, 4 boards, 1 design tool, and instructions. This is what the front of the package looked like:
And the back:
You choose the picture (template) you want to do, turn it upside down and place it in the clear plastic board lined up properly, then turn it right side up.
Here is what it looks like when it is ready to be beaded:
Miranda and Marissa with the new package thinking of what they want to make.
Marissa and Tikki from Miraculous
Marissa is my oldest and she is into a TV show, called Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir. She wanted to make one of her favorite characters from the show, Tikki.
It is definitely a challenge, but she is up for it! This is what her completed design looked like before it was sprayed and dried:
This is what it looked like after dried completely and taken off of the form.
Marissa's Opinion
She liked working with the Super Beads. She can make whatever she wants to and doesn't have to go all the way upstairs to get the iron, then find parchment paper and figure out what temperature and how long to press and how hard to press on the first side, then flip it over with more parchment paper and do it again, then peel it off and hope the paper didn't stick and then hope she didn't hold it too long so it didn't melt too much in one spot. This is even all the way across and looks uniform at the end. I like working with the beads to make the Tikki craft.
Miranda and Turtle
Miranda liked the turtle picture the best of the choices that were sent to us:
Miranda used the turtle template to follow as a guide for where to put what color and here is her design with the water on it waiting to dry.
The photo below was taken about a month or so after she made her design. I was cleaning my bedroom and she came in playing with her turtle. I was like, “Wow! That thing is STILL holding together as much as she plays with it? I have to get a photo!” I was not thinking of the mess behind her or whether her fingernails were clean! Anyways, here is what it looks like now:
Miranda's Opinion
She loves to make things and be like the big kids and be able to make them stick together herself. With other brands of beads, she doesn't get to use the iron or glue! She got to spray it and she did a good job because hers is still stuck together.
Mercedes and Kitty Valentine
Mercedes has quite a few friends and she is very thoughtful and likes to make things for them. She was seeing a friend on this day and wanted to give her a Valentine. Her friend loves cats just as much as Mercedes does.
So she made a cute kitty Valentine:
The photo below is her carefully pushing through the holes in the back with the tool to get the design off the template without breaking it. You can also use the flattened side of the tool to lift all of the outer sides up, then slide tool under to lift more beads off. In my busyness of helping my 5 year old get his design off, I forgot to snap a picture and the gift was already given to the friend who very much liked it!
Mercedes' Opinion
She thought it was easy to use and liked that she didn't have to iron or glue it and that she could make what she wants easily.
Mason and Apple
Mason wanted to make an apple to “feed his big stuffed horse”.
He is five years old and it took him a very long time and he had a few breaks of having a snack, going to the bathroom, walking around to see what everybody else was doing, etc.
But he really wanted to finish the job.
He did finish his yummy apple:
Here it is after it was all sprayed and dried and ready to play with:
Mason's Opinion
He said it took a long time because it's such a big apple, but his horse is really happy now! He is very proud of himself for completing the task and proudly showed Daddy the apple he made when Dad came home from work.
Amy (me) and the Doll Rug
All four boards were being used so I got out a board from another fused bead company to make a design. I am getting older (age 44) and my vision is not the best seeing tiny things so I had a hard time figuring out which side should be up or down. I tried to do it by feeling, but was too busy managing children, reading instructions, figuring out the new product, etc. to really pay attention. At last, I gave up trying to figure out which way was up and pretty much just got them on the board quickly. Now that I see a close up of this picture, I can see where I made mistakes!
But even with my mistakes, most of it fused together in the first try! I just had a few pieces to put back in there and re-spray and re-dry.
I forgot to take a completed photo and I don't know where the rug is now. Probably in the dollhouse accessories box somewhere. I did see it being used in the living room of the dollhouse last week though.
My Opinion
I love that I don't have to stand at the iron many times a day to iron my little ones' creations! It is so nice that they can spray it themselves, what a time saver for me!
I like that even if the beads are upside down or on a competitor template, that they will still fuse together. When my old beads from another company are used up, I plan to just buy these from now on and we can keep all the boards we have and use the new beads on them.
I recommend that you give these a try for your family to see if you like them too.
How to find them:
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Zirrly-1488221441475359/
- Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/zirrly/?eq=zirrly&etslf=NaN
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zirrly_/?hl=en
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtsk7AY7EYG91LieNgsFy2A/featured?view_as=subscriber
- Website: https://www.zirrly.com
The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Review Crew has a great team of moms using and reviewing other Zirrly Super Beads packs, such as “Jungle Animals“, so click the banner below to see all the reviews:
Thanks for stopping by! I look forward to sharing more great curriculum reviews throughout the coming year.
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Zirrly says
You guys did a fantastic job reviewing and presenting our Super Beads. We’re super impressed. Thanks so much!!!
admin says
Aw, thank you for making a great product and sharing it with us!