Bunchems Product Review
We were recently asked to review Bunchems. Little Miss was pretty excited when the product arrived in the mail and within minutes she was 'bunching' (if that's a word!).
Bunchems are 'burr' like balls that lets kids combine construction with craft. They received Activity Toy of the Year at the 2016 TOTY in New York City this February and after trying them I can see why!
We received the Bunchems Mega Pack to trial which has 400+ pieces including 36 accessories and a guide. The guide gives you ideas of what you can make with the Bunchems all shapes and sizes and you can even use them to make letters. We started off by making Little Miss' favourite thing at the moment - a unicorn!
The product is very easy to use, the guide tells you how many Bunchems balls per colour and how many accessories you need to make a unicorn. To make things, you can stick the balls together in a line, stack them on top of each other or bunch them together in a ball and then accessorise. Kids can follow the guide or go freestyle and let their imagination go wild and problem solve!
Kids can have lots of fun with these little burr like things but I think they are also a great tool for counting, learning about colours, creating, coming up with ideas, problem solving and are great for motor skills too. When we made the unicorn, I read out to little Miss the number of balls needed per colour and we also counted them together. I asked her what colour each time and then how many accessories we needed.
The accessories add to the fun and kids can make funny creatures with them. Each ball has two sides, a flat side with the brand name and a side with a hole for accessories. To insert the accessories, little hands can just press the accessories' ends into the hole. A bit tricky depending on the creature but it's lots of fun and the creature comes to life!
We loved making these cute little ones with little Miss' favourite characters The Hungry Caterpillar and Dory. I think it's hard to tell but we made them without a guide so not too bad for beginners I think! We also made a tree with apples and a tiger from the guide which we then changed into a classy dragon!
As you can imagine, the possibilities are endless but sometimes the simplest things are the cutest. I showed little Miss how to make poppies. I reckon that with that simple task she learned about patterns, repetition and colour matching and made poppies of all different colours. Love the end result ! We then stacked our flowers once we were done but we could have done a rainbow with them come to think of it!
I reckon Bunchems can be therapeutic for adults too and a good activity for parents, carers and grandparents to make something with the little ones and keep them away from the TV and devices. Who knows there might be a Bunchems movement similar to adult colouring books soon! I am definetely getting enough practice at the moment if it becomes a thing later ha! It is both addictive and satisfying once you have finished creating.
Bunchems can be reused a thousand times and when kids are done with them for the day they can bunch them together to put them away. (I know I think I've said bunch them a thousand times in this review haha!) The best thing about this toy is no glue, no pens, no paint etc no mess!
The verdict: Little Miss and I love Bunchems!
