Customer Reviews

Orbeez - Magic Maker

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(16)

 

 

They've been selling these things forever - just repackaged it as a toy so you'll pay crazy amounts for it. You can find them at the $1 or online for a couple bucks at most. In every color under the rainbow. They're sold for plants - you soak them in water, plant your plant in them and the plant's roots absorb the water so you don't have to remember as often. Google "crystal soil balls", "imbibtion balls" or "jelly marbles." If you have any Asian markets near you - I've seen them in almost all of them (Daiso, Mitsuwa, 99 Ranch, Marukai)
You'll also find them in some beginner chemistry sets as "magic crystals." Same thing, different shape.

The little balls are really pretty, but you will hate them. The plastic contraption to grow them is completely unnecessary, and is just a marketing ploy. You can just buy the balls and grow them in water, if you dare. There are two main problems. There is nothing to do with them - they are just tiny little boogers in pretty colors. Put them in a clear vase - looks nice. But problem 2 - if you let them out, you will regret it. It takes an hour to clean up the thousands of nasty pests that bounce and roll out of control all over the house. They're too small to pick up with fingers, slip under a broom, ruin a vacuum - there is literally no way to pick them up, except one at a time, half of them slipping through your fingers as you go. I was dismayed at my daughter for making mess after mess, until I realized that there is just no way to contain these lovely abominations. Nothing breaks my heart like a promising toy that turns family fun time into nothing but clean-up and thoughts of throwing the thing away after only a half hour of use.

I was skeptical about this from the beginning since we had tried the other pellet thing called Pixos and that was a messy and pointless purchase since the dispenser jammed after one day. But we broke down and got this toy for our 7 year old since he was sure it was great.

Warning #1--The instructions say that if any pellet is ingested you must induce vomiting so i would assume the same would be true if your cat or dog ate one of the many that rolled off the table since they are really slimy after they come out of water. Great!

Warning #2 -- The pellets should be thrown out after a couple of weeks since mold will develop. Neat science project?

This is going to be one of those toys that mysteriously disappears after a week or two...

We recently bought this for our grandkids and they absolutely had a blast with it. They couldn't wait to see how much the pellets had grown overnight and when they saw them, they just grinned! They used the tray that comes with it to play tic-tac-toe and whatever else came to mind. I honestly didn't think it would keep them amused for as long it did, but I am very glad that we purchased this item!

My daughter got this as a gift. Horrible and ridiculous to spend $$ on this. After 4 months of the kids playing with it for a total of 15 minutes (and then it sitting on their bathroom counter) - it magically disappeared one day. Weirdest thing. Oddly it happened on garbage day. Don't know if elves came or if the tooth fairy needed it as tiny ball castle for her kingdom but my kids never missed it. Weird.

We recently bought the Orbeez Magic Maker for our 4 year old. She has had hours of fun with it especially with the accessories (Butterfly, Peace Sign, Flow and Show). She loves the whole cycle of watching it grow from tiny beads to full blown Orbeez balls. We've even had a few collections completely dry out and return to it's original size but all you have to do is to pop em back in plain H20 and they grow back.

She's a 4 year old who loves helping mum in the garden (planting and growing flowers) so this toy has a lot of appeal to her. She has a fairly keen interest in arts and crafts (even for her age) and this toy truly brings out the creative side in her. I hope Orbeez will come up with more innovative products/ideas to make this a long lasting toy. This one definitely sits well in our household.

Finally, a fun and creative toy for the kids to play with. The kids have been asking for this, but I wasn't sure what I was looking for. They were so excited once we brought the Maker home. They played for hours and hours, and every time a friend/relative came by, they managed to get excited over and over again. Every time finding a new creative way to play with the beads. Great fun and great creativity comes out of this. They loved the texture and the feeling of the toy playing with the beads for hours and hours. Thank you Orbeezone, please continue to bring out more activities for the kids.

I bought this toy for my little cousin's 7th birthday. She just LOVED it! She asked to be excused as soon as we were done eating and immediately gathered a bunch of different bowls in the kitchen to start growing the different colored Orbeez. She seemed most Wow'd by the clear ones that are invisible in water (I thought that was pretty cool too!) When I left a few hours later she was still at it - and her Mom tells me it's been a hit with her friends as well. Would definitely purchase as a gift again!



Orbeez - Magic Maker

This turned out to be a good buy for my daughter's birthday present. She now has a zillion Orbeez to share with friends. The variety of colors is very nice. The container is large, solid, and does not leak.

This "toy" is a waste of money. My 8 year old had to have them after seeing a commercial and spent her gift card on them. The "machine" you make them in is not necessary (if you must have them, just buy the refills and stick them in a bowl of water). After 3 hours they grow to these tiny, slimey balls that a) don't bounce and b) have no use at all. And, you'll have literally hundreds of them all over the place. The dog can eat them, the kids can eat them (more than 10 and you have to call poison control). Oh, and my vacume picked one up and now smells of burned plastic. And the balls don't stop being slimy and wet unless you put them in this flimsy plastic tray and let them dry (we are on day four and they never got dry...just shrivled up).
Yah, I know you can sell anything to a kid with a good commercial - but this product is a huge rip off and UNSAFE.