MindWare Pottery Wheel for Beginners
- Ease of Use
- Construction Quality
- Versatility
- Value for Money
- Smoothness of Rotation
Craft Schmaft Verdict
The MindWare Pottery Wheel for Beginners is a great learning tool for kids to help them express their creativity while being introduced to a new craft.
It’s sturdy, lightweight, and a fun tool which can double as a great gift for crafty kiddos.
If you’re looking to really delve into this craft, look for a more professional wheel but for younger artists who are just starting out, this will be just fine.
The MindWare Pottery Wheel For Beginners is an educational and fun device for children who are just getting started with the craft of pottery.
Whether they came to this craft on their own or by their parents’ encouragement, this MindWare kit has the tools necessary to teach the basics of pottery and to instill a love of creation.
From its safety stop feature to teach users how much pressure to apply to their pottery wheel, to the included air dry clay that does not require an oven to bake, to its paintbrush and paints to allow extra creative decoration to the finished products, these tools are all geared to help young crafters grow.
Still wondering if this pottery wheel for kids will best fit your needs?
Read on to see the details, both positive and negative, and make the best decision for yourself!
Contents
Mindware Pottery Wheel for Beginners: The Details
Specs
- Weight: 1 pound (6.25 pounds shipping weight)
- Dimensions: 15 x 16 x 3 inches
- Recommended Age Range: Seven-years and up
- Motor Speed: 68 rpm on slow, 92 rpm on fast
- Voltage: 110 volts
Construction
When it comes to letting the kiddos loose on a device, it’s important that the object in question is both sturdy and safe.
This pottery wheel for beginners is the strongest and most durable pottery wheel available for children, so no worries there.
It includes several features to ensure that the motor lasts as long as the rest of the wheel, including its safety stop feature which activates when too much pressure is applied, stopping the motor from grinding while also preventing it from overheating.
It is intended to be operated while sitting down, with its foot pedal speed operation.
Overall, this machine is easy to use, with clear illustrated instructions on the chassis and accessible plastic versions of the advanced tools one would find in a professional pottery kit.
Accessories
Whether it’s intended as a gift or a new hobby, a pottery wheel that requires you to go out and buy several other parts is a pain.
This pottery wheel comes with several features and accessories, so you have everything you need from the beginner.
Included are the following:
- Foot pedal for operation
- Two pounds of air dry clay
- AC adaptor
- Five pottery tools
- Twelve paints
- Paintbrush
- Illustrated instructions
Features
Foot Pedal
The simple foot pedal on the MindWare Pottery Wheel introduces beginners to the most common feature of these devices, allowing a variable speed from 68 rpm to 92 rpm.
This range in speed allows users control over the device but also does not cause enough speed to create any messy splatters from out of control clay, staving off the need for extensive cleanups after use.
We can hear all you parents sighing with relief.
Motor
The motor on this pottery wheel for kids has an innovative safety stop feature. This feature prevents the motor from running if too much pressure is applied to the wheel.
Not only does the feature prevent the motor from overheating, allowing it to last for much longer than other pottery wheels for beginners, but it also helps the user learn valuable pottery skills.
This teaches the kids who use it how to properly center their clay and just how much pressure is appropriate to use for a given project.
Pottery Tools
The plastic tools included with this pottery wheel teach children using it the basics of the pottery craft.
They include tools to cut off pieces of clay in the desired size and tools to draw designs on the pot as it is created. The pottery wheel’s frame includes handy locations to place each tool until it is needed.
Paints and Paintbrush
Instill in your child a sense of creativity and pride in their work with these decoration tools.
The paintbrush and twelve paints included open up limitless possibilities for each project, and who knows – your kiddo could decide painting is their forte as well!
Mindware Pottery Wheel for Beginners Review
The Positives
Easy For Children to Use
Parents of kids who use this pottery wheel report that it does not take long at all for their children to sit down and start using the device, getting the hand of the craft right away and creating arts and crafts that they can be proud of and excited about.
From the simple plastic tools and foot pedal, to the air dry clay, to the paints and paintbrush for colorful finishing touches, this kit has everything needed to inspire a new little artist to get creating.
Inexpensive Tool for Learning Basic Techniques
Some pottery wheels for beginners are more expensive and include more complicated tools than might be necessary for someone just wanting to learn the basics of the pottery craft.
This MindWare Pottery Wheel sidesteps that issue, creating an inexpensive tool that focuses on teaching users the most basic techniques.
Its foot pedal teaches the essentials of speed control, its safety stop feature teaches the basics of how much pressure to use on the wheel and the clay, the frame teaches the basics of centering the clay on the wheel, and the tools teach the basics of cutting and shaping the clay!
This allows your child to be their own teacher, and easily learn the beginning steps of the craft without causing a big mess.
Lightweight and Portable
You don’t have to permanently position this pottery wheel away in a craft room, or basement, it’s super light and compact making this pottery wheel portable enough to be used in a variety of settings.
Sending the kids to the sitters or to grandma? Want to sign them up for an art class where they can learn new skills? It will be far from a hassle to pack the MindWare Pottery Wheel with them.
Weighing in at just about a pound, you can even let the kiddos carry it on their merry way.
But don’t let the size and weight of this wheel fool you, this product is made to be durable, withstand wear and tear and be strong against your child’s artistic trials.
Adaptable
This pottery wheel is dual direction meaning it doesn’t matter whether you’re right or left handed, it will adapt to you.
Or if you feel comfortable working in one direction over the other, it won’t be hard to adjust.
Safe
With all the features included in this pottery wheel like its safety stop and lightweight build, you know that you won’t be putting your child in harm’s way by giving them this product (as long as you’re following the age restriction that is).
When building a product for children this is especially important. With this wheel, children will be able to learn and you won’t feel worried about taking a call in the next room while they craft.
Here’s a video showing what the MindWare Pottery Wheel for Beginners looks like out of the box.
The Negatives
Not Many Instructions in the Package
Though its features are designed to assist in learning the basics of the pottery craft, there are very few instructions in the actual kit, particularly when it comes to attaching the tool support accessory to the pottery wheel.
As a result, some users who depend more on reading instructions than on hands-on learning find this kit more frustrating than helpful.
Motor Is Weak and Loud
It is important to note that this is a pottery wheel for kids, not for professionals.
The motor is not very fast or strong, and it stalls under pressure, making for a device that does not allow maximum production or the creation of incredibly large and complicated clay pots.
Other users have found that the motor is disproportionately loud and very annoying after long periods of use.
Professional potters or people who know that they want to become professional potters might find that a different pottery wheel would better fit their needs.
Paint and Clay Arrive Dried Up
In some cases, users of this pottery wheel for beginners have found that the clay and paint arrived mostly dried up, without much left that is usable, requiring the additional purchase of replacement clays and paints.
Though the wheel itself is relatively cheap, the purchase of extra clay and paint could prove costly in the long term. If you’re hoping for an all-in-one product, better put aside some extra cash in case you need these materials.
If you’re lucky, you won’t have to worry!
Can’t Be Used Everywhere
It would be lovely to send this pottery wheel overseas to a young relative or to carry this with you if your family has to move out of the continent.
Unfortunately, MindWare doesn’t make it easy as this pottery wheel is designed for places with a voltage of 110. While this is okay for North America and nearby regions, you won’t be able to use this in continents that use higher voltages like Europe, Africa and Asia.
Though if you’re planning on staying put, this won’t put too much of a damper on your child’s creativity.
Overall Verdict
We would recommend MindWare Pottery Wheel for Beginners to children interested in picking up the craft of pottery or to parents who want to instill a love of art in their children.
It is built to last and to educate, and overall it is a valuable tool and fun toy for young creators. While it’s not a toy, it is another great activity for children, making this a solid gift idea for the holidays or birthdays.
Remember though, that this is a pottery wheel for children, and not meant for professional levels of pottery production.
It also contains small parts and so is not recommended for children three years of age or younger. The recommended age for the MindWare Pottery Wheel for Beginners is seven and up.
Where to Buy the MindWare Pottery Wheel for Beginners
The MindWare Pottery Wheel for Beginners is both a great tool for teaching the craft to children and a fun activity for crafty youngsters.
The fact that kids can get in on this popular art-form has skyrocketed the MindWare Pottery Wheel into popularity, and its favorable reviews have only allowed it to stay on the shelves of retailers both in-store and online.
To start your search, check out the following online retailers.
And of course, it’s also available on Amazon.
That’s all for our review on the MindWare Pottery Wheel for Beginners. Tempted to give it a try?
