Customer Reviews

Bead Bazaar Lacing Kits - Alphabet Lacing Kit

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I rarely feel compelled enough to write a review on a product, positive or negative- but felt I needed to pass on my experience to future buyers. I got this alphabet set mainly for the educational value of learning the alphabet, not as much for learning the actual stringing activity. This is very good news for me because I was shocked at how ridiculous this product turned out to be. The letters are of good quality and nicely painted but the holes are placed very inconveniently, so that you have to maneuver through crevices and gaps. I could not even lace some of these shapes...let alone my two year old. Very poorly thought-out drilling. It was very frustrating for her, and she is a lacing champ. The WORST part of this product is that the holes drilled are very jagged; it shreds the shoelace when threading it on the string. Also, the strings that come with this set are so flimsy; they are far thinner than shoelaces and have no stopper. It's no good at all. I am going to go ahead and keep this set and just use it for practicing letters, without the stringing. I was tempted to send it back and it would have been my first item I have ever returned to Amazon after being a loyal customer for over eight years.

***Stringing activity recommendation: I purchased Alex Little Hands String-a-Treat and Alex Little Hands String-a-Farm about a year ago and can't say enough wonderful things about those sets. There is no comparison between the Alex stringing toy and the Bead Bazaar one, go with the Alex toy...you will be glad you did!

This toy is really nice for learning letters, beading the letters through, etc. However, some letters are a bit hard for a 3 year old to bead through. And for my 5 year old who would like to create words, he is unable to do it since there is only one letter each in the package. this would be a great toy if there were multiple letters as my son can not even spell his name with it. :(

My two year old is really into stringing beads and lacing. The beads could technically be choking hazards, but the letters themselves are quite large. You can take out the smaller beads and still have lots of fun to play with the big beads. Plus the colors are gorgeous, they are smooth and feel great in your hands and the 3D letters are great for little ones learning letters! A great gift!

I put 2 stars for durability, but it was for being poorly made and handled.
On arrival, product was so loosely packed that its thin wrapping film was torn, edges and corners of wooden case were cracked and separated (I fixed them by Crazy-glue), the sliding plastic lid had multiple cracks, scratches all over. All four edges of this lid were rough and dangerous for my 2yo, so I did the sanding.
I thought about returning, but overall still usable and it was not an very expensive toy.
I chose this one because nobody was complaining about color coming off. So far, color is not coming off, but from the smell and impression, I have suspicion against quality of paint. My kid does not put toys into her mouth, so I am going to ignore this question.
As other person suggested, the lacing hole was not sanded that the thread does not go smoothly, and I feel that this may cause thread wearing out in near future. (However, since it is not smooth, pieces do not come off despite of my kid pulling the laced thread around, which is good for her.)

Despite of above issues, the color, pattern and design were great. The variation of alphabet, simple shapes and fun animals matches with my goal.
As other person suggested, hole is placed in awkward way, but my daughter seems not minding and enjoying its complex lacing (using gravity). So I put 5 stars for educational value.

I bought this $25 and my satisfaction was 3 stars overall. If this was $10s, I could put 4 or 5 stars.

My 2 year old son went crazy for these beads for his birthday. When we first got them, he wanted us to string them for him all the time. Just one month later, he can string 10 or more on a string with no help. He loves his letters and feels a sense of accomplishment. I love the fact that they are a safe product too...to me it was worth a little extra over other versions to have a safer product.