Hama Beads and a lovely new sponsor!

I recently received some Hama Beads sets for the girls to try out from a fabulous UK, family based company called Craft Merrily. Fantastic!

At first I thought these would be too fiddly for Cakie, but what arrived in the post were just perfect! The Maxi Hama Beads are designed for younger children, age 3+, and have much larger beads that are easy to handle and place on the boards. She loved trying out this Duck, Car and Doll set with really sweet base board shapes and patterns to follow. She quickly got the hang of placing them on the boards and was so excited that it could become a permanent picture at the end by ironing it!

She surprised me by wanting to make up her own ideas on the car pattern, opting for her favourite pinks and reds to fill it up (nearly) independently as a present for Daddy when he got home from work!

 Pop was very keen to have a go too and loved trying to put the beads on the duck board. Of course it required fine motor skills beyond her development, but she did really enjoy the sensation of playing with the beads in the tub- almost like a sensory tub! I think this Maxi size are gorgeous for this age group and I'd love to see what other base boards there are in the range!

You can find some great ideas for hama bead play on Patch of Puddles, the family blog that is connected with the Craft Merrily site.

Craft Merrily and its sister company Play Merrily have just become the latest sponsors here at The Imagination Tree and I'm so thrilled to have them on board as these are companies I can really get excited about! Not only are they local and family run, but between them they stock and sell a truly fabulous range of natural and beautiful toys and craft materials!

I have seen quite a few things on the Play Merrily site that I'd love to get for the girls for Christmas, from baby dolls and dolls houses to educational toys and stocking fillers. Something for everyone! So check them out, support a local business and find some real treasures as you do so!

You can find Play Merrily on Facebook here. Be sure to like them to hear about great offers and discount codes in the run up to Christmas!