Zirrly Super Beads: Jungle Animals (A REVIEW)

We just love a new craft project, and we got to try something new with this Super Beads Jungle Animals pack from Zirrly. 

Since we love other kinds of bead projects that are similar, I was excited to give these a try, and so were my kids. As soon as we received our box of Jungle Animal beads in the mail, there was no time wasted getting the package opened and digging in by one of my boys (age 9). He pulled out all the package contents, and discovered several small baggies with the different colors needed for the projects, a nice sorting tray, directions, card stock patterns, peg trays for putting the beads on, a small spray bottle (for water), and a tool for picking up the beads (shaped like a pen).

These beads have a rubbery feel, and fit snug onto the peg board. They don't shake off the peg board easily if it gets tipped or bumped, so my son was able to sit at the couch and work on this while we did reading or watch a show. I love that the beads don't bump easily off these trays. We've had plenty of other bead projects fall apart easily after the slightest bump. These don't!

The picture below is a close up of the beads. They are easy to grab with their rubbery feel. That pen also works pretty good, but with multiple children using this we mostly opted to use fingers. Which leads me to give a little warning that these beads do stain fingers. They have a colored coating around them, and we found our fingers stained, and even the couch arm rest because one child was wiping colored fingers on it as he worked. I think this is my only dislike about these beads.

Stained couch armrest

How do these beads work? To start a project a pattern is picked from the card stock picture patterns included. The pattern is inserted behind the peg board (wish I had a picture for an example), and the colored beads are inserted onto the pegs following the pattern. There are even patterns for a stand for each animal. After the picture is complete it is then sprayed with water, that is it! We found that we had to spray them pretty well for the beads to stick together good, and not come a part. The drying time is about 60 minutes, although we left ours for several hours to make sure it was fully dry.

Most of our animals stood up very well. The lion was a little heavy at the head, so we just laid him down. The zebra had issues when he was made, so he looks like he's jumping, but for the most part all our animals stand very well. They are pretty fun to look at. Oh, and Aric took a little creative freedom in changing the color of the beads for one animal, so that is why the monkey is multiple colors. We ran out of the colors we needed for him, so I had to get creative. That's not what the pattern for the monkey or the elephant looked like originally.

Overall, these beads are pretty neat. I enjoyed working on them with my children. They really enjoyed them too. I am considering getting more of these for an upcoming trip since they are easy to finish, and stay on the tray well. If you'd like to see what others had to say about these beads you can click on the banner below. There were several other different bead sets reviewed like the Super Beads Spinning Tops set, it looks pretty fun too! There are many fun sets to choose from. Check them out at Zirrly!