Kids Glue That Won’t Leave You Blue – Alex Toys Kids White Glue
Written: Nov 21 '04 (Updated Nov 21 '04)
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Pros: Easy to use bottle, non-toxic, water soluble, inexpensive.
Cons: Can be hard to find in some parts of the country.
The Bottom Line: A good glue for kids crafts and projects!
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| Freak369's Full Review: Alex Toys Kids White Glue |
When Annabelle started expressing an interest in doing her “own thing” creatively I took a step back and gave her the freedom that she needed to express herself. 99% of the time she is a complete angel but there is that 1% of the time when her horns do start to show. She hasn’t exactly had the most stable family life so her little outbursts are to be expected and to be honest; I thought that she’d be a lot worse with her little “fits”. She likes stability – getting up at a certain time, the same food every day for breakfast lunch and dinner and oddly enough, wearing a certain color pair of socks each day regardless of whether or not they match the rest of her outfit. Trying to get her to use new things is a bit of a chore and I fully expected her to turn her nose up at this since it is labeled as a “kids” product. She’s never had a problem keeping up with the boys but there are some cases where she just can’t do some of the things that they do or use some of the tools and items that they use. Scissors and glue seem to be the two toughest items for her to get adjusted to. When I gave her a pair of the Crayola Blunt Tipped Scissors she was fine with them until someone called them “kiddie scissors”, after that she wouldn’t touch them with a ten foot pole.
When my oldest boys left to go back to England to finish off the term she and my youngest bonded like brother and sister. She took her cues from him when they would start a project and my son really like the fact that Annabelle was like a little sponge, always ready to soak up any information or educational material that they got into. If I can get him to use something and she sees it then, in her eyes, it’s cool even if it’s a “kid item”. Annabelle loves to make collages and glue stuff together so I started stocking up on different types of glues just for her. Oh we had the pink stuff with glitter, clear glue with stars and hearts, pink and purple swirl stick glue and the basic white liquid glues. Needless to say, I got a real educational about glue and can say in all honesty, little girls can be a real pain in the … well … you get the picture.
Alex Toys Kids White Glue 1.25 ounce bottle
If you are looking for a glue that’s made just for kids, this one will surely fit the bill. When I picked this up for Annabelle to use for her little projects I expected her to go bonkers that she had her very own bottle of glue – not just glue – but kids glue. When I finally tracked this down at some obscure over priced toy store in Mission Valley, I resisted the urge to buy a ton of bottles since I had no clue how this stuff would work or how it would hold. The cost per bottle was .89 cent, a little less than other brands in this size but the true test would be how it worked – but that was half the bottle. Annabelle flat out refused to use it because she deemed it “for babies”. Now, if you have little girls you know how stubborn they can be at times and this little princess is no different. Eventually, after bribing her with a new pair of Barbie Princess shoes, she caved in and said she would use it on her next project. She decided she was going to make a collage of her favorite cartoon characters which meant cutting up all the old Cartoon Network and National Geographic Kids magazines, arranging them on folded pages of copy paper and then adding glitter to them. I figured that little project would be the perfect test for this “new glue”.
With all her supplies in check she started flipping through the pages of the magazines, collecting the images she wanted to use and crunching up the ones that didn’t make the cut. Eventually she ended up with about thirty pictures and started laying them out on the table to figure out how she wanted them arranged and I was getting impatient – I wanted to see how the glue adhered and if it would warp the paper. I made her a poster board cover just to test out the glue on this type of paper and she snatched it out of my hand with an evil grin. She started gluing the middle pages and was so engrossed in it that she didn’t really make a comment about the “new glue” other than playing around with the lid on it. She took the poster board cover and really went crazy on it drawing stars, hearts and squiggles with the glue bottle then dousing them with different colored glitter. She’s done this enough times to know that you can’t use too much glue or too little – so getting it just right the first time is key. She didn’t have any trouble using the bottle or getting the glue out so the size and shape of the bottle definitely passes the test.
This worked well with glitter, buttons, feathers and felt and for the most part didn’t warp paper. When she over did it with the glue there were some sections that got wavy but nothing that didn’t dry out over the course of a few days. She did the front side of the pages and put them up on the window ledge to dry out for a day before she worked on the reverse sides. There were only a few small spots that were still wet the next day and those pages got to sit on the ledge an extra day. The ones that were dry and ready for some more art looked great and all the pieces, pictures, extras and glitter were securely stuck to the pages. When she was finally done with her cartoon book she wanted to tie it all together with yarn – something that we should have considered before she started because now she had to much “junk” on the pages there was no way to slide it into the three hole punch and be able to get it back out without ripping the glued items off the pages. A knitting needle stabbed through the pages solved that and allowed me to work out some aggressions at the same time [cue the music from the shower scene in Psycho].
Things To Know
You can check out all the cool arts and crafts that Alex Toys has to offer at their official website: www.alextoys.us. They have a wide variety of individual and packaged sets of products that inspire kids to show their creative side. In addition to arts and crafts they also sell creative play items such as kitchen and shopping sets as well as items for the tub. Until I checked out the website I had no idea that they had so many items and I’m sure that this will be the first of many purchased of Alex Toys products.
The Bottom Line
As a whole I was pretty impressed with how the glue worked for Annabelle’s little project. She didn’t really have an opinion one way or the other about it and when given the choice between another tube of this glue and one of the standard glue sticks, she opted for the later but that’s not a slam against the Alex Toys Kids White Glue. Generally she shies away from anything that is deemed “for children” because she likes to keep up with what the boys are doing. It’s a bad case of monkey see, monkey do in this house so if they boys don’t use it chances are she won’t either. This glue is good for kids of all ages when you need a liquid glue. It’s on the same level as the Elmer’s Glue All and Crayola School Glue – a viscous white glue that, when used sparingly, yields very nice results. If price is your main concern then look for this when the “back to school” sales are going on but be forewarned, it can be a little hard to find in some parts of the country. If you are interested in trying this out but can’t locate a store in your area that sells it, stop by the Alex site and use the store locator to find a store or retail chain that carries their products.
As always, thanks for the visit …
~^V^~ Freak ~^V^~
© 2004 Freak369
Related reviews …
UHU Glue Stick
Crayola Washable Glue Stick
Elmer’s Glue All
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): .89 cents
Type of Toy: Arts and Crafts
Age Range of Child: Whole Family
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