My "almost 7 year" old daughter got this loom for Christmas and is thrilled. One of the best things about it is that it comes with a small project already set up and started so that a young child can jump right into the weaving.
Before my daughter got this loom, she had been making home made looms out of old shoe boxes which means her projects could not get longer than the shoe box, but the Brio Loom allows you to lengthen the project as long as you like.
The loom is complex but since it comes already set up, you get a preview of what you will need to do when it comes time to start a new project. A patient 6 or 7 year old can master the weaving part which is a rhythmic and theraputic motion that my daughter finds fun and relaxing. However, setting up the loom is complex and involves a LOT of measuring strings and tieing each individual string off, so most likely the mom will get stuck with that duty.An older child with a long attention span should be able to handle setting up the loom by herself.The directions are clear but please don't lose them--I have to keep consulting them.
The loom is quite impressive looking, much better than expected. It looks like a miniture real loom (which is exactly what it is.) It is made of all wooden parts, even the very small delicate parts--this makes the loom somewhat fragile. Sitting on the loom or stepping on it will break it to pieces but it appears to be durable enough to handle normal wear and tear.
The all wooden loom looks nice enough to leave out as part of the room decor. But if you do not want to leave it out, the loom folds down flat and slides right back into its box keeping the project intact and ready to work on the next time you slide it out. The large balls of yarn will not fit into the box but can, still attached to the project, sit next to the box. The box can easily fit in a drawer as it is approximatly 3 inches wide and 21 inches long.
This loom is cute but it is much more than a toy!It would make an excellent gift for older children and even teenagers because you can make projects as simple or as complex as you like--a teenager can be very creative with this loom.I believe this loom is also appropriate for adults--in fact I would like to try it out myself, if I could get it away from my daughter :)
I hope your child has as much fun with this loom as my daughter!
I just pulled this loom out of storage (saved by my mother from when I had it 30 years ago!) and set it up for my very eager 8 year old.She has previously done paper and grass weaving, and just learned how to knit.She loves the loom, which has stood up to a great deal of use (and even more storage).She watched part of the set up this time, and I've let her know I will do it once more, and will help her once after that -then I'm done with set-up duty.She's been weaving for about an hour, and has about 9 inches of cloth, I think.Also check out backstrap looms.I set up my 4 3/4 year old with an off-the-cuff one out of posterboard since she was interested in the other loom.She's off and running.I'll make her a sturdier one (or buy one for her) since she's sticking with it and that loom didn't seem to make it into the "keep forever" boxes from my chiildhood.
Buy BRIO Loom Now
I bought this loom for myself to find out whether I like weaving before I bought some high-dollar, fancy loom (yep, I do.)This a great toy loom.As far as I can tell, the basics are here and work pretty well.If I had children, I would be happy to give them this toy.I may give it to our granddaughter when I get a more serious type of loom.It's not terribly heavy-weight and sturdy, so it may not be suitable for more boisterous children.
Read Best Reviews of BRIO Loom Here
My six-year-old daugher received the loom for Christmas.She loved it and went right to work.After weaving for over an hour, she needed help to tie it off.To finish, you must tie forty strings into knots, which is really no problem.The difficulty arises in re-threading the loom, which is very similar to threading 80 needles.I got to 41 in an hour and quit.While I'm sure my time will improve as I get more practice, in reality, the loom will probably go back in the box and onto the shelf.Too bad, because the idea is fabulous; the set-up requires more time than I can reasonably provide each time we want to start a new project.
Want BRIO Loom Discount?
