It's getting to the point in half-term where you might need a little bit of additional assistance in entertaining the kids. Sometimes endless finger painting and sticking leaves to paper just doesnt cut it and you need to go out and buy a kit. We were lucky enough to have the chance to test a few kits out over the past few weeks, as far as I can see they are all easily available at the usual retailers such as Argos and Amazon. Here are the verdicts, I hope you find it useful:
Hello Kitty Cool Cardz Design Studio
Suitable for 6 +
When this arrived I was a little bit skeptical that the kids would enjoy it and so I roped in one of their slightly older friends to do it with them. I have to admit this was partly because I thought it was so fab myself I knew I could get a bit carried away laminating things. I love laminating things…
It’s a really basic idea, basically you get some little cards, stickers, pens and stamps and you design your own cards and then laminate them though a special little machine. It’s one of those endless activities really.
The children ranging from 2 to 8 year old all enjoyed making their cards. However the excitement of being able to laminate the cards quickly took over and I did notice that they took less and less effort over their designs in their rush to get a laminated card! The 8 year old had absolutely no problems in using the machine, which is sort of like one of those old fashioned credit card payment machines.
All in all I think that although this is a little bit pricey it’s a great little creative toy which I’m impressed with. We liked the idea and you can use it a fair few times so it represents good value for money.
Aquabeads Spray Station
Suitable for 4 +
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, you can go wrong with Aquabeads. Generally I think they appeal more to little girls than little boys but my little boy who is four and a half loved this set. Basically you select a template and then use a special ‘plopper’ to put the beads in the appropriate place, you then you the little flower head like a shower to spray water onto the beads and set them.
My little boy who is four and a half found it quite hard mustering the patience to sit and put the beads in the appropriate places on the template. I think this is a boy thing, he lacks the concentration of his girl friend who is the same age and who spent ages happily plopping beads into the appropriate place. However, this kit comes into its own with the little flower shower head which sprays the water to set the beads. My boy absolutely loved this feature as as he liked pressing the button to spray the water. I used this as an incentive to get him working on the designs.
What I liked about this craft activity was that it encouraged a bit of thought and dexterity, so although I had to do it with my boy I could see that he was benefiting from doing it. He seemed to like that he got a little creation at the end of it and has set about keeping them to give as Christmas presents to members of the family.
Reasonably priced hours of fun and a classic craft activity, you can’t go wrong with this one.
Charmies Magic Beader
Suitable for 6+
Older friend thought it was her lucky day when she was asked not only to play with my two kids whom she seems to adore, but also to have a go at the Charmies Magic Beader. I don’t know what it is about girls and beads but the thought of making endless bracelets, necklaces, key rings and so forth seems to fill them with absolute joy.
We all sat around the dining room table and had a look at this activity. Unfortunately a slight fight then broke out as it became instantly apparent that it is something that only one person can do really, although they can be ‘assisted’. Therefore I would suggest that either you buy a couple of sets or you make sure that this is a single person activity!
The idea is that you put the beads into the special little compartments of the ‘magic beader’ and this then helps you thread the beads automatically. Of course, it means that you need to encourage your child to take time over choosing beads for their design otherwise the whole activity is done in under five minutes. The finished product is nice and can be used as gifts or kept as a dressing up item in itself.
My testers liked the beads, liked the concept and were quite happy with it. However I felt that it simply didn’t take as much time as I would have liked for an activity, especially at the cost. I reckon this is a good gift, rather than something you would buy yourself to fill the long half term hours…
Half Term Craftiness; A few reviews of craft kits
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