However an exception is the Picture Beads sold by Hobbycraft. I've used lots of these Hama style beads and found that they are nearly as good as branded Hama beads. Hobbycraft sell their beads in mixed bags of related colours, like blues and greens, and they are much cheaper, especially if you catch them on special offer. They are exactly the same size as branded Hama beads and can be used interchangeably with your Hama beads and Hama branded pegboards. Now that you’ve had a refresher on how to melt the beads, you can get the patterns! Keep on reading.

Then just lay a sheet of ironing or baking paper over the beads and press lightly with an iron to fuse the beads together. If you are looking to buy a pegboard or two I'd recommend starting with a square, hexagonal and circular board as these will allow you to create a wide range of designs. The pegboards can be used over and over again, as long as you are careful not to over iron your projects (see more ironing tips for Hama beads below) The final fact I learned about frogs is that they don’t just breath through their lungs. They breathe through their skin. This is known as cutaneous respiration. Their skin needs to stay wet to facilitate this, which is why many frogs live in or near water.For example, there are over 5,000 species of frogs on every continent except Antarctica. The smallest frog is from Papua New Guinea and is .3 inches (7.7 mm), which the largest is 12 inches (over 30 cm). Clear beads come in handy if you want to attach more ‘flimsy’ areas of the patterns like eyes and toes. You’ll see what I mean below. Not that a foot-long frog would do anything to me. They eat bugs! Did you know that when a frog blinks, the eyeballs help push the food down its throat? I typically start with easier, smaller patterns then move on to the more difficult ones. There are several different versions of frogs with larger patterns; just keep scrolling! Hama beads are available in three different sizes - Maxi, Midi and Mini. The Maxi beads have a diameter of 10 mm and are aimed at young children completing their first Hama bead projects. The Midi beads measure 5 mm in diameter and are the most common size of bead. These are the beads that I most often work with, and they are suitable for both children and adults to use. The smallest beads are the Mini beads, and with a diameter of 2.5 mm they really are very tiny. It's easiest to manipulate them with tweezers, and they are definitely more suited to teenagers and adults as they are very fiddly to use.

If you don't want to commit to buying too many supplies, or you are buying a gift for someone as an introduction to Hama beads, you might want to think about starting with a kit. There are so many available, and I've put a selection below. Some of the kits have very specific theming, for example based around Disney characters, and others are more general. In my experience the kits contain far more beads that you will need for the projects suggested, so if you find a kit on sale then it can be a good value way of building up your Hama bead collection. It's a matter of personal preference as to how much you iron the beads. I like to leave the holes in the beads visible but some people like a smoother look. Just be careful not to over iron as this will make the beads impossible to remove from the board, and may warp and damage the board. A few of these patterns are larger than a 29 x 29 pegboard, so you’ll either need a extra large pegboard(49 x 69 tall) or to put multiple square peg boards together to form a larger “canvas.” If you are new to Hama beads I would recommend starting with the Midi beads. You can buy these beads in large tubs of beads in a range of colours, and the tubs often include a few pegboards to get you started.I've suggested below a few Hama bead products below that are great for beginners, and you might also want to take a look at my Hama bead gift guide for some more Hama bead inspiration. But that isn’t their only feat. Some species can regenerate lost limbs, which makes them interesting to study. Also some species of frogs leap up to 20 times their own body length. This would be equivalent to an average human jumping nearly 30 meters (or 100 feet)!