Aquabeads 2019 Advent Calendar Review
Reviewed by Louise Totton
With advent calendars getting more and more sophisticated (I remember when it was a real novelty to get a square of chocolate in mine), it’s no great surprise to see some of the kids’ favourite toys available in calendar form. One of my youngest’s favourite things to do is play with bead toys – we have a playroom full of Hama Beads and Aquabeads, and she’ll spend whole evenings on her creations. We do love Hama type beads, but they do require some adult input with the hot iron, so she most often uses the Aquabeads because she can create and set her designs quite independently, which at the age of 7, she particularly likes!
So when an Aquabeads advent calendar landed on our doorstep for us to try out, she was more than happy to help out! As you would expect, the advent calendar has 24 Christmas themed Aquabeads surprised hidden behind 24 numbered doors for your child to open day by day in the lead up to Christmas. Each day contains either the beads for your own mini Christmas creation, or some other accessories to help you on your way. Not each day will include beads or a project, but instead, boards, a spray bottle, stands for your creations and cord to make some of your designs into tree-hanging decorations.
For the days that do contain beads, the inside of the door contains the pattern for the child to follow to create their festive decorations. The patterns sit underneath the clear bead trays that the calendar also contains, and it’s as simple as popping the correctly coloured beads over the top of the design, then giving them a spritz with water and leaving them for an hour or so to set. Once this is complete, you will be left with a pretty strong and rigid little creation.
Some of the patterns are tiny, some are a bit bigger and some are double sized. Without fail, they kept my daughter happy and entertained for a little while each day after school and she was over the moon with the results. There are also little cords hiding behind some of the doors, as well as little plastic stands. The cords allow the designs you make to be hung on the Christmas tree as permanent little mementos of the month, and the designs that sit on a stand are perfect for popping on the mantelpiece or for the kids to take upstairs for their bedside table. All told, there are the designs and beads to make 15 different projects as well as the extra accessories to help you to put them together.
This is a lovely advent calendar, and it’s far nicer to reveal a little craft activity each day than a square of chocolate that will be gone and forgotten about in a matter of seconds. It will give the kids something to look forward to going after school each day, and the longer-lasting trinket that they have made is something that they can be really proud of.
Rating: 5/5
RRP: £24.99
Available to buy from Amazon here.
