Manley Art-tastic Magic Beads Deluxe Playset - 1200 Beads
by Manley
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List Price: Category: Toy See more product details |
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Toys and Games Reviews of Manley Art-tastic Magic Beads Deluxe Playset - 1200 Beads
Customer Review: nothing to write home about!
Summary: 2 Stars
My four and a half year old loves making things with beads at his pre-school so I wanted to get him his own set for Christmas. I couldn't find the ones they use at his school (which are thicker, have flat ends and are fused together with heat) so I decided to go with Magic Beads instead. My son has played with this set of few times but doesn't seem to care for it very much. The box says it's for children 4 1/2, but he has a hard time working with it. The beads are very small, round,and really hard to work with. They roll EVERYWHERE! and my son has a hard time keeping them in place while he's working with them. The little trays that you're supposed to store the beads in are worthless and don't contain them at all - you have to be very careful when moving them or the beads will spill everywhere. The pen that came with the set was a cheap piece of plastic and didn't work at all. And finally, once the beads are fused together with water, they don't stick together very well and if they do, the final product is flimsy and can easily be broken or torn apart.
I am going to find out what they use at my son's preschool because he loves those things. The pictures he makes with them are stronger and harder and will survive handling from a 4 year old much better than the stuff he makes with his Magic Beads.
Customer Review: Nice concept-doesn't function as it should
Summary: 3 Stars
As previous reviewers have said, the pen that is with the set doesn't work consistently or well. That leaves a child very frustrated with the pen, or even more frustrated trying to move the dots with their hands and individually put one in each place. Despite that it isn't a total loss. My daughter has played with it several times. Because the pen doesn't work well, she gets impatient and her designs don't come out like the template, but she isn't fazed by this. For other children who are perfectionists or who feel badly if their item doesn't come out they way they anticipate, this product could be a problem and cause for great frustration.
I have not tried the competing brand so I can not compare the two.
I will say that the beads do hold well together with just the water. which I like much better than the sets that you have to iron after the children make a design.
this project would also be great for kids who need to practice fine motor skills, although due to the frustration of the pen not working, the sets that require the ironing would probably be a much better choice.
I will not personally buy any of these products again and will go back to buying the ironing beads as they are better overall. (even though I hate the ironing part).
Customer Review: Fun craft
Summary: 4 Stars
My children wanted Pixos, but after reading reviews I decided to buy these instead - I can't compare with pixos, but these work great. The pen is hit or miss and gets jammed sometimes, but my kids still love filling the pen and using it - and if it gets jammed or drops extras - they just correct it with their fingers or the sticky nob on the end of the pen. My 4 year old needs assistance spraying the design, but she makes her own designs with the templates. My 9 year old does it all on his own. They say to spray and let dry 10 minutes - but use common sense - I spray until the tops of all the beads are shiny - so you can tell they are all wet - then once it's dry - or almost - probably just over 10 minutes - I carefully remove the design, turn it over and set it on a piece of cardboard and spray the other side then let it dry completely - when it no longer feels tacky. We have made several designs over 3 days and none have fallen apart - they are very flexible - so I can fold them over and they still stay stuck together. I can't say exact drying time - since we tend to walk away and go do something else - or make another design - but they can definetey be handled in less than an hour after spraying both sides - unlike what I've read about pixos.Customer Review: Manley Art-tastic Magic Beads Deluxe Playset - 1200 Beads
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought the Manley Magic Beads for my 5 year old granddaughter. She only listed 3 items on her list for Santa as she wanted to save lots of toys for other children. She is a great kid, and Pixos was right on top of her list. My daughter knew a few mothers that bought Pixos for their children and they were so dissapointed. The pens didn't work, and allot of times the beads didn't stick together as advertised. She also read many low reviews on Pixos.
I saw this product on Amazon, the ratings and reviews were really good. I told my daughter I was buying these and kept my fingers crossed. Christmas morning my granddaughter was trying very hard not to be sad because Santa didn't bring the Pixos. She said mommy explained Santa didn't think they worked very well and didn't think children would enjoy them much. So she was extremely surprised and excited to see this present. Guess what, the Manley Magic beads really worked exactly the way they should. They are Art-tastic!! She loves them.
Thanks Amazon for making a very wonderful little girl very happy.
Customer Review: Better than PixOs, more beads and they stick better
Summary: 4 Stars
According to my eight and six year old daughters, the Magic Beads are much better than PixOs. We bought the PixOs Spin Master PixOs Super Studio first, but were disappointed by the beads not sticking together very well, and there were too few of them. The Art-tastic Magic Beads stick together better, even though they are the exact same size as the PixOs (and I'm guessing you can use them interchangeably). The pen in this set is more fun because it has four chambers to store beads and you press the top to spin the chambers to the next color. The only problem with the pen is that it's not as accurate as the PixOs one, so my kids wound up using their fingers most of the time. The Magic Beads set comes with more beads than the PixOs set, but it's still too few, so expect to buy more. The good thing is that the refills for Magic Beads are cheaper than PixOs beads. Also, my kids seems to like the patterns that were included in this set more than the PixOs set.