Awamoko pen: make new friends out of foam

Are you over 6 years old, and feeling kinda lonely?

Get to know the Awamoko foam pen – plus all the 3D bubble buddies you can make with it.

A bubbly time for everyone

Kids under 6 aren’t meant to use it, but otherwise the Awamoko pen doesn’t discriminate. From the Japanese FAQ: ‘the pen’s designed in blue and white, to appeal to both men and women’.

A big reason for all kinds of people to give it a try is – or was – the ‘foam art contest’. We checked, and the last one was in 2016, oh well. Don’t let that stop you dreaming up super random, foamy stuff at home.

Keep it clean – raid the bathroom

Awamoko 3D pens run on liquid hand soap (and batteries). That’s the ‘awa’ bit – the foamy bit. Soap goes in the refillable blue cartridge at the bottom. It’s not included in the kits, so you’ll have to find your own.

Every pen does come with: 2 nozzles (both thin), 3 stamp heads (smiley face, sunshine, paw print), 2 sponges, a spatula, a handy soap refill bottle, and a storage box.

(The refill bottle got cut out of the pic, but it’ll be in there for sure.)

The ‘moko’ in Awamoko’s from ‘mokomoko’, a cute Japanese word for ‘fluffy’. Turn the dial on the pen to change how rough or smooth the foam gets. It’s tough stuff – you can make super long bubble chains.

Fully charged batteries should last around 3 hours in an Awamoko pen. Making 1 new foam friend takes maybe 5-10 minutes. And a full soap cartridge makes ’30 table tennis balls’ of foam on average.

So let’s say you can make up to 6 friends an hour. You’d have a whole club by the time the power runs out.

Bubble bunnies, or foamy fish?

The only limit on what you can make with an Awamoko pen’s your imagination. (And how much liquid soap you’ve got.) But start with the ‘3D sheet’ plastic template sets, to be safe.

You can get templates for dinosaurs, zoo animals, pets, and aquarium (sea) creatures. Each set’s got either 3 or 6 templates included. The ones with 3 are usually bigger animals.

Build up the foam around the plastic base. The templates show you the right shape for each animal, and help with the tricky bits. For extra inspiration, watch some of the Awamoko ‘how to’ YouTube videos.

After a while, you’ll easily start to come up with your own ideas. You can make almost anything. Use the pen to write out foam words, draw things, or build a giant bubble tower.

The foam’s got impressive balance – it only wobbles if you try wobbling it. Make a spiky tail, or horns, or wings, and they’ll stay in place. That makes it way easier to go large (go tall) with your creations.

All packs come with stickers, to add once the foam body’s done. Eyes, ears, mouths, tails, and cute accessories like ribbons. (The dinosaurs come with fire stickers for the T-Rex!)

Pop those on top of the bubbles, without popping the bubbles. Instant character and personality for any shape you’ve made.

Hand soap’s never looked so Instagenic

Your foamy friends’ll last about 15-20 mins. It depends on the room temperature, and if you’ve got the aircon running. But that averages gives you enough time to take some cute Instagram pics together.

The bubbles slowly pop and disappear into the air, so there’s no mess. And if you start to miss those little critters, pour more soap in the pen and start over.

Get inspired by Japan’s weird toys and craft ideas

Pick up an Awamoko 3D foam pen kit from Japan (and the template sets) online, through DEJAPAN’s proxy shopping service. On our website, you can shop in English and arrange international delivery.