Angel Malma Bells - a review

Angel Malma Bells – AD sent for review for Kids One Stop Shop

disclosure:  we were sent this kit for the purpose of review.

We’ve been busy this morning having a craft morning – painting, colouring and glueing.  Generally getting rather messy but having lots of fun.  Part of our craft morning came thanks to Angel Malma Bells which we received recently from Kids One Stop Shop.

Angel Malma Bells - a review

Angel Malma are eco-friendly papercraft ideas such as the 3D Angels, Bells, Stars and Eggs.  The product is bio-degradable so can easily be recycled.

I’d picked the pack of 24 Bells as I thought these would be ideal for my son’s Pre-school (I’m also a committee member there) on the run-up to Christmas.  When I received the box, I noticed that it said for ages 6 years and over, something I hadn’t noticed before – oh dear perhaps I would need to re-think the pre-school idea? Well, my son is moving to the School Nursery in September so I knew that I would still be able to find a good home for the kits.

But I wanted to see how he would get on with decorating a bell himself.  Would he enjoy himself?  Don’t shoot me, but I’m thinking decorations for our Christmas tree (I know it’s August!! I said don’t shoot me)

When you open the craft box you find 48 bell halves, 48, cardboard bell centres and strings for hanging your bells.  I decided that it would probably be easiest if I made the bells up myself and then let him loose with paint, glue and crayons.

The instruction leaflet is simple to follow, you glue around the edge of one bell half and all around the edge of one bell centre, stick them together (I used a glue stick for all of the glueing) and thread a cord through the holes.

Angel Malma Bells - a review

You repeat the process to construct the second half of the bell and ensure you thread the cord through both sides.  I then left the pieces to dry for a few hours.

Then you glue the front of each centre half and stick them together, ensuring the cord hangs freely from the top of the bell, again I left to dry for a few hours.

Angel Malma Bells - a review

I’m sure older children would definitely be able to construct these bells for themselves adding to the crafting fun.  Now we were ready for my son to have some real fun.

Angel Malma Bells - a review

We used some easy sponge paints, pot paints, bits of old Christmas cards, chocolate coin foils, crayons, Easter egg wrappers and some sparkly items from my craft box – Mister Maker eat your heart out! We used glue sticks for the collaging.  For older children, you could also try watercolours, oils and felt-tipped pens.

I was given instructions to make a silver bell, whilst my son painted, glued, coloured and generally had lots of fun.  I left the glitter pots in the cupboard today but can see glitter working really well with these kits.

Having made the bells ourselves I think they’d be great for any setting really – a group of Mums and their kids (I can see him and his friends having some creative fun using some of these at his birthday party in December), in a pre-school setting with pre-constructed bells and at school.  The kits give children a completely blank canvas – the end result is only limited by the child’s imagination.  My son had to show some patience as he waited for the bells to be constructed – I was really surprised by how well they have stayed together.

Older children could easily draw a design onto their bell and then paint/draw to fill the design in.  It’s a great way to produce a decoration or gift that’s a real work of art as seen in your child’s mind.

My son really enjoyed the 360-degree element that a 3D item gives him.  I think his first bell is probably still a work in progress, but that’s fine.  He can embellish his bell as he sees fit over the days to come.

We were both really rather impressed with our Angel Malma Bells – a great craft set for £24.99.

 

6 thoughts on “Angel Malma Bells – AD sent for review for Kids One Stop Shop

  1. I like the look of these, good to see kits which have slightly more difficult aspects for the older ones and can also be enjoyed by the younger – I could see my lot enjoying that 🙂 Looks like monkey had a good time!

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