Activities for Kids, Perler Beads
Qixels Fuse Blaster Review
My boys each got a Qixels Fuse Blaster for Christmas. The Qixels Fuse Blaster is kind of like a Perler Bead alternative, but instead of using an iron to make the plastic beads stick together, you use water in a water gun! My daughter has loved Beados in the past, which has a similar concept, but the Qixels Fuse Blaster is geared towards boys! And the Fuse Blaster kit was on $10 on Amazon.com!
The Qixels have square beads that are pushed into a peg board. There are pros and cons – the pro being that if the board is flipped over accidentally, the beads still stay on the board. This is a huge plus because we have encountered several occasions where the kids have flipped a Perler Beads or Beados creation over accidentally, and their creations get ruined. Instant tears = no fun for parents or kids at all. Qixels solves this problem with having to push the squared beads into the pegs in the board. On the flip side, it was sometimes hard for my 4-year old push some beads by himself, but that was more the exception than the rule.
Here, Noah is making a robot Qixel. He really loved these boy shapes!
Once he finished pushing the beads into the board, we filled up the Qixels water gun so we could spray the Qixels beads with water. You spray the board 10 times, making sure to cover all of the beads. Then you pick up the board, shake of any excess water, and let it dry for 30 minutes. We did make sure to put newspaper under the board before we squirted water on the beads!
After 30 minutes, you peel the paper off the board, and then peel the beads from the paper. The beads did stick together with only water, no iron needed!
Noah had a blast playing with his robot, shark, dragon, and viking! At 4 years old, he loves little toy figures, and these he made himself!
I would say that Qixels Fuse Blaster was a hit with my boys and kept them busy for a good couple of hours. Liam, my 6-year old, doesn't typically have a lot of patience for crafts, but he really got into this boy themed craft. It would be a great gift for one of my nephew's upcoming birthdays!
Have you tried Qixels? What do you think and are there any other Qixels kits we should try?
