Give your Kids a Double-Dose of Learning Expose your kids to the best classic literature by letting them listen to books on tape while working on their bead designs. Their hands keep busy, and their minds stay focused on the stories. Our kids have listened to dozens of classics this way, all on tapes or CDs borrowed from our local public library. When these stories and books came around as school assignments, they were well ahead of their classmates! Those beads are everywhere!!! Finding beads underfoot everywhere after the kids have been working on designs for awhile? Here's what works in our house: Promise kids a penny for every bead they pick up off the floor. If you have more than one child, the competition gets those beads picked up in no time! Teachers love Perler Beads, too! (be sure to read her great idea for picking them up!) I am a therapist who works with children. Many of the children are diagnosed ADHD. The kids love working with perler beads. Many of them can not focus for more than 5-10 minutes at a time will spend 90 minutes focused on making "iron beads." The kids are proud of the projects they make; they keep them and show them off to others (which is rare for them to do with other projects they have made). The children I work with are ages 8-16. Tip: use a sharpened pencil to put the beads on or remove a bead from the peg boards. Tip: for picking up beads: put a nylon hose on the end of a vacuum hose. When you turn on the vacuum, the beads will stick to the nylon, making for easy clean up. ~Beth from WI Saturday Morning Fun My kids love to listen to family friendly kids' programs on the radio on Saturday mornings. Most of these programs have moral, biblical, or historical lessons so they are quite educational. Many a Saturday morning, I will come downstairs and find my kids listening to the radio and working with Perler beads. Sometimes as a treat on Saturday morning, I will sneak a new pack on the shelf with the cereal. When they wake up, they find it and get to work right after breakfast. It's a nice surprise for them and it keeps them entertained for hours! KoolStuff4Kids Note: If you're interested in kids' radio drama, check out Focus on the Family Radio Theatre or Adventures in Odyssey - you can even listen online! Color Sorting Made Easier When my kids are looking for certain colors and I don't have the time to sit and sort through the pail of colors for them, I gave them an old cookie sheet and they dump out so many beads and it is easier to find the colors they are looking for and the beads are not all over the floor. ~Lisa from ND Girl Scout Swaps! I am a Girl Scout Leader and 1 year we made swaps (which a little pins made from anything) with perler beads. The girls loved it and made little flags, smiley faces, rainbows, etc. They were fighting over if it was there turn or not to make the perler designs. They were a big hit at camporee were they swap with other girls from other troops during camp, but some of the girls had there favorites and wouldn't swap them certain ones. All the other girls at camp loved them and were always asking to swap with our girls! ~Deb from CT Creativity PLUS Compassion When a young man in our church found out he needed a kidney transplant, we hosted "kid kraft" days. The kids made perler designs and I added findings to turn them into keychains. (They need to be really well fused for this!) The kids sold them after church and to friends and neighbors. What a blessing it is when the little kids can have a fun and creative way to help raise money for the expenses to help out this young man's family!! Great focusing! My child is ADHD and she can sit and do beads for hours. It is fun and easy and she's only three going on four. I love this and have been doing it myself since I was a little kid. I think this is a wonderful creation for everyone including adults to do and share this experience with your kids. Even the little ones love Perler Beads! My two year old daughter loves working with the beads. We have used the beads as an incentive for being good at daycare. If she was good we go home and as soon as we walk in the door its "Momma I do beads." She just loves them. ~Heather from NY Craft Club Fun I have 7 children that come to my garage and do crafts about twice a week. They would come over every day if I would let them. I am always looking for new things for them to do so they don't get bored. The perler beads are great because there are so many things they can do with them. The boys like to make outer space things and the girls like to do anything colorful. They have a great time crafting together and their parents tell me the kids love coming over and making neat things. With so many kids, I just dump the beads on a couple of cookie sheets and they just go to town. Vacation Fun for Everyone We just spent 2 weeks up at the lake with our close friends. Our kids spend hours making things with these beads. My Son who is 9 spent just as much time as the girls making stuff. Of course he was making aliens while the girls were making hearts! I have never seen one thing make so many individuals so interested for a long period of time. Also this was for days! My friend and I decided this was the perfect birthday gift for any up coming party! Our kids are ages 6, 6, 8 & 9. ~Jennifer from CA Special Time with Mom I just got my 6 year old into this and she loves doing the beads. She's going to be working on some for her room and for a craft fair too. It's time with her mom when her sisters are sleeping. She enjoys counting the colors and putting them on and sorting the colors as well. So now every time we go to the store were looking for more beads and designs to do. ~Amy from NY Chore time made easy! My daughter gets an allowance for doing chores around the house, but lately she hasn't wanted to do them. I have made an agreement with her that allows her to receive an alloted amount of money to spend towards the crafts she loves to do. She enjoys picking out new things and KoolStuff4Kids has been a wonderful and helpful place to find kid friendly fun activities with excellent customer service. Daughter is having fun and Mom is getting more help around the house without the frustration thanks to Kool Stuff 4 Kids! ~Angela from N.C. Another Sorting Idea When my daughter gets her big assortment of beads she takes a craft box that has many slotted divisions in it, or any fishing tackle box that has divisions in it, and sorts her beads by color. That way she never has to dig among the many great colors. KoolStuff4Kids Note: We've just added these great plastic storage containers to our inventory! Check out the Extras Department to order. Great Idea to Keep Designs Together Before Finishing! Another really great thing about these beads is that you don't have to COMPLETELY FINISH a project. My 4 yr old loves to do the big designs but sometimes loses interest...........so I just take the iron to one side of the beads, leaving it on the pegboard and then later she can come back and finish it. Since the beads are barely ironed it doesn't change their shape but still keeps her hard work together and we don't have to worry about keeping the board absolutely still or flat. There's just nothing bad about these beads. Thanks for such a great product!!! Help for ADHD Kids My child has ADHD. We have just started doing Perler beads. This is great for a child with ADHD due to the fact that it keeps their mind going and they are busy thinking about what color they want where and how to make it different. This has been also helpful to me because she can do this by herself. If you know anyone with a child with ADHD have them try this. My other child loves to do Perler beads as well. We make it a family thing. We all can do it together. IT is a lot of fun. Thank you! Busy in the Kitchen My 4 yr old daughter can't wait for me to be in the kitchen either cooking or cleaning.......she knows that's her special time to do beads. Now instead of whining that she's bored or wants me to play, she looks forward to sitting at the table "working" with beads while Mom is working in the kitchen. It gives me at least 30 minutes to do my work and we can still talk and be together. Can't beat that! Daycare Activity I have an At-Home Daycare. I have 5 kids & my 11 year old. Ages 12 to 4, one of whom is ADHD. I have made a promise to them that they can do a craft after school ONLY if they all complete their homework first. I am very impressed at how they all help one another complete their assignments to get to make & create with these little beads. The little boy who is ADHD is the one who seems to spend most of his time being creative & adding to the 3-D projects. I have really noticed a great improvement in all of their dexterity especially the 4 year old's. I have also noticed how the bickering has calmed down & how they work together to help one another with their projects.The kids mothers have told me how great it is to have them come home with no homework & they love the little gifts the kids have made"Just for them"! ~Bonnie from Almo Felt Board Stories We make little people and objects to use for our felt board stories. We stick velcro on the back of our characters and use them to tell stories with, as I read the story the kids act out the story using their perler bead characters, they love making the people and things that go along with the story. I think it makes it more personal because they created the characters themselves. More Daycare Tips I am a family childcare provider and preschool teacher, and fusebeads are great. During quiet time the older children are to play quietly while the younger children nap. I tried many different activities, however, I haven't found any thing that works as wondrous as fusebeads! The older children do at least one fusebead design a day. The boys enjoy designing fusebeads as much as the girls. Fusebeads are also a learning tool for the children. They are using their math skills for sorting, patterning and counting, as well as problem solving skills such as debating the color to use when some else has chosen the same color first. The one skill area that fusebeads help children build is their social skill area. The children share ideas, help others find the color needed for a special project, along with helping each other make the project. After their project has been ironed and a magnet put on the back, they use their science knowledge to discover what the design will stay on around the house, the younger children get very excited when they discover it will stay on other things besides the refrigerator. Clean up is easy also, I have let the children know that when I vacuum at night, for every fusebead vacuumed up that is a day without them. Since the children can not go without a day, they clean extra careful, and I have never found a fusebead when I have vacuumed. ~~Marion from WA