Rainy Day Fun with Zubber Bands

Shortly before Christmas last year, I was lucky enough to have a taste of what it was like to be a Toys R Us Toyologist and let me tell you, it was a lot of fun.

Toys R Us are now looking to recruit new families for their 2011 Toyologists Program. To be eligible for selection, all you need to do is review a toy or game based on the theme of Family Fun, Outdoor Fun or Rainy Day Fun and post it on the Toys R Us Facebook page by midnight, Thursday 5th May (full details HERE)

I am reposting one of my reviews from before Xmas as my entry because I would love to be chosen again and have another opportunity to get creative with ideas, videos, photographs and words. This is my Zubber Bands Review for the category Rainy Day Fun:

Zubber Bands

£12.99

"Create cool bracelet bands with this Zubber Band craft set - includes 100 letter, number and symbol blocks to choose from so you can customise your bracelet with anything you want"

I have tried out all sorts of craft sets with my older girls as they were growing up but the Zubber Bands seemed unlike anything I had ever used before. The idea of a material that moulds like clay but sets like rubber was quite intriguing and if the pictures on the box were anything to go by, the result of your crafty endeavours could be unique and quite wearable.

The age recommendation on the box was 5+. Figuring this would be beyond the capability of my 2 year old, I took the set over to my 8 year old niece Kizzy' s house and gave her an early Xmas present (and earned myself the accolade of "favourite auntie" - for the day at least!) She was very eager to get started and the older girls were drawn into the proceedings to help.

The box contained:

•  a multitude of little letter/number/symbol blocks and a cute draw string bag to keep them all in
•  a bracelet mould and a small plastic tool to press the Zubber down
•  measuring scoops, and of course
•  Zubber - which came in three bright colours in domed plastic containers with an additional component that needed to be added to the Zubber to activate it.

Kizzy had the job of measuring out the Zubber and the activator and kneading them together. This had to be done quickly before the Zubber set so she did get a little help. Ella (14) placed the letter blocks in the mould while everybody else searched through the pile trying to find the letters she needed.

It was not an easy task. The letters were hard to identify and it was a big jumble to sort through. Also the lid of the mould was difficult to snap on and when the plastic tool seemed to scrape and tear at the Zubber rather than push it into place, they resorted to using fingers instead.

Despite the difficulties, everyone was kept occupied and engaged and we were all quite excited about the 'reveal' of the finished product.

We had a watch to time the 10 minutes needed for the rubberising process to take place (only the deluxe Zubber craft set contains the special Zubber timer) and waited patiently. After half an hour (and several festive snacks) the Zubber did not appear to have changed at all. We poked it and decided to leave it a little longer.

Eventually, we made the decision to just go for it (we were running rapidly out of patience and snacks) and carefully slid our Zubber band from the bracelet mould.

I have to admit it was quite thrilling as the band came away to reveal perfectly imprinted letters, but the thrill was short lived as the zubber stretched and ultimately fell apart. It clearly had begun to set to the rubbery consistency promised because we were unable to re-knead it and try again, but it was a long way from being properly ready. We should have exercised greater patience.

To summarise, it was a bit fiddly and the finished product, this time, was unusable but we did have a lot fun with it (as you will see from the video). Next time, with the benefit of experience, we will leave the Zubber longer and hopefully achieve the desired result.

One final word of caution - take care when positioning the blocks on the bracelet mould. It is very easy to end up with backward facing letters!