Perler Fuse Beads are truly a gift to stressed out parents and Childcare providers. These lovely little treasures will keep the kids crafting for hours.
Instructions for Fuse Beads Projects:
Have the kids place the beads on the pegboard in whatever design that they want. When they are first starting out, they will likely do a kaleidoscope of whatever color of bead they pick up, but as time goes on, they will begin to make creative and colorful designs. The first time that your child makes a fuse
bead project, you may need to sit next to them or be close by, so that you can encourage them to keep going. If they are having trouble handling the beads, let them try using a plastic tweezers designed by Perler for just that situation. Once the child has either filled up the whole pegboard, or made a frame using just the outer 2-3 rounds on the pegboard, carefully slide the pegboard off the table and onto a counter top where the adult can iron the project.
Place the ironing paper on top of the fuse bead project. I think the instructions say to use the medium heat setting on the iron, but I normally use the hottest setting. The small fuse beads will fuse in about 20-30 seconds. Gently move the iron around on the whole project without settling in any one place for too long. If you iron the project too long or in one place too long, you risk melting the pegs on the pegboard. The large fuse beads do take quite a bit longer to fuse (probably 1-2 minutes in fact). When you are done ironing the project, allow it to stay flat on the pegboard until it is completely cool, this will take 2-5 minutes, but it is worth the wait because when the project is cool, it will slip off the pegboard and still be flat. If you take the project off the pegboard too soon, it may warp. You can reuse your pegboard many times. You can also reuse the ironing paper many times. I have used it at a craft show where kids were doing projects all day for 2 days and the ironing paper turned brown.
Uses for the finished Fuse Bead Projects:
When the project is cool, you can place strips of adhesive magnet on the back of the project and you have a great fridge magnet to give as gifts. They also make cool school picture frames to put on the fridge, or to hang from the Christmas tree. Or use the star shapes as wonderful ornaments. The Ornament Kits (there are 6 different kits available: The Reindeer, The Santa Claus, The Santa Face, The Snowman, The Christmas Tree Ornament Kit, and The Gingerbread Ornament Kit. Coasters are another use for the projects. Kids can collect different shapes and exchange with other kids for shapes they haven’t made.
What will my kids learn and why should I want them to try Fuse Beads?
During the 6 years that I was a licensed childcare provider, the kids literally made hundreds of projects. I had one little boy that arrived at about 7:30 in the morning and every day (sometimes before he could even get his coat off) he would be saying “Can I do fuse beads today?” Fuse beads are more than just about making parents and childcare providers happy though.
Your kids will be learning so much while they are doing their projects. Hand-eye coordination is one of the big ones. Increased fine motor skills are another. But did you know you have the added benefit of giving them a chance to practice early math skills? Patterning is an early math skill and as the kids do more projects, they naturally start making patterns with the different colors of beads. Back 2 Basics 4 Kids has bags of 6000 beads in both single colors (13 color options) and color mixes (10 color mix options). Parents are continually amazed when they tell me with shock in their eyes that the kids went through “all 2000 beads in the kit that I bought, in just ONE weekend”.
Another benefit to the fuse beads is that they have such a wide age range. Whether you are a mom, grandma, or childcare provider, you know how frustrating it can be when you have to figure out something that both a 3 year old, and a 10 year old will want to do. Fuse beads fits the bill. Especially when you start your younger kids on the large fuse beads. and The larger fuse beads take longer to iron, but the projects are so cute.
Favorite Kits and Pegboards
The 2 best kits for a classroom or larger group setting are the Classroom Kit I and Classroom Kit 2. Each of these kits contains 12 pegboards, 10,000 beads, the Mega Idea Book, and Ironing paper. The pegboards are different in each kit, so take a look and see what would work better for your group of kids.
If you are looking to buy something for just one child, I would recommend the Creative Kid Gift Box or The Triangle Tower of Beads.
There are many shaped pegboards available also. Single pegboards are a great way to get just the shapes you are looking for.
Or purchase the large colored square pegboard for just $1.70. The large clear pegboards come in a 2 pack and cost $4.49.
Links to Patterns and Ideas for the Fuse Beads
Perler is the pre-eminent manufacturer of the fuse beads and has many project ideas in the Gallery and Gallery Archives. You should note that their prices are often higher than the Back 2 Basics 4 Kids prices as we buy clearance items and also discount the regular retail price to make the Fuse beads more affordable for our customers.
I Can Dream has many fun patterns and examples of finished Fuse bead projects.
Making Friends has some very creative patterns and ideas for making projects for the fuse beads.
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