
I have not seen these beads, probably since I was a young girl. We were in Walmart one day, in the craft section, and my daughter saw these. She wanted them, and at first I said no, because they just didn't seem necessary at the time. However, she reminded me she still had some birthday money left, clever isn't she, and that she wanted to buy them. So, I gave in, and home these beads came. I don't know if you can tell from the picture, these ones came from Amazon, but there are all different shapes, including stars, bears, hearts, dolphins, etc and little rings so you can make rings. I must admit once she got this home, and began playing with it, I could see all kinds of educational oppurtunities. If you have a preschooler, or kindergarten aged child, learning sequencing these are wonderful. You start the sequence, and they have to follow the pattern. They are awesome for color recognition, shapes, counting, adding, subtracting, sorting, following directions, and so much more. Plus it is a fun way to teach, that your child will be interested in. It has been well proven, that younger children learn best through play type activities. This definitely suits that purpose. Amazon has these for 19.99, I think we paid 14.99 at Walmart. They are well worth the price, in my opinion.