It's Hama Time!

These little beads have taken over my six-year-old's life. He's completely obsessed. For those who have never encountered them Hama beads fit on to the pegs of a template to form a pattern or a picture. The resulting piece of artwork is then ironed through greaseproof paper and the little beads all stick together forming a solid, flat object. Millions of designs can be created...the only limit is your imagination...and the imagination of the average six-year-old knows no bounds it seems.

We have enough Hama flowers to fill a show garden at Chelsea. We also have fish and octopuses; dragons, stars, rockets, bats and butterflies. He likes to make things then stick them to card and make pictures...sort of mixed-media artwork to which he keeps adding more bits or 'improvements' as he calls them.

I have no problem with this creative craze but by golly they hurt when you step on them in bare feet and I'm sure our hoover is full of the bloomin' things. Also, and this may be too much info here...our dog's poo has become..ahem...a little more decorative of late. It seems he eats any he finds on the floor!

So in the spirit of artistry if you can't beat 'em...join 'em.