Monday, November 26, 2012

5 Store-Bought Crafts Worth Buying

Before I learned how to be crafty at home, I used to buy craft kits and I always sort of thought, "Who are they kidding with this?"  We never could quite get them to work the way the instructions described, and they always seemed to cause more frustration than enjoyment, but over the past year I have actually bought a few crafts and games worth buying.  Here they are:

1.  Alex Tissue Art: There are some products by this company that aren't worth buying, but this is a great one.  We have played with this on multiple days and even my 2.5 year old could sort of do it and my four year old absolutely loved it.


2.  Suncatchers.  I cannot tell you how many suncatchers my daughter has painted in the past 6 months.  She never seems to grow tired of these.  You can actually buy them at Walmart for less than $1 apiece and they sell the paint for them too since they take a special kind of paint.  Or you can buy this kit that comes with everything.



3.  We have bought different lacing stuff before, but this is the only one that my daughter actually enjoys.  We have taken these on many vacations and they are great because they can keep them busy and pack into a very small area.  Plus, they are great for developing fine motor skills.



4.  Hubby doesn't love these as much as we do, but we absolutely love them.  The kids can color on the windows and then they come off easily afterward when it's time to clean them up (I find this to be a great chore for the kids.  It doesn't quite get done right, but they can sure try!)



5.  I find this to be a great one to do when my daughter has friends over.  They can each get a pile of beads and they can each make a pretty  necklace.  Again, this is great for fine motor and the beads simply snap together.



If you are interested in craft ideas that you don't have to buy, you might be interested in my book!  I teamed up with Susan Case who is a former Kindergarten teacher and a passionate advocate for learning through play.  We give you dozens of other ideas on how to keep your kids busy, but in a productive way, so they are actually learning while they are also having fun!  Here is what one of my readers wrote on Amazon after she read our book:

  This book seriously saved my sanity. I've read a bunch of parenting books but this is literally the only one that actually gave me real and specific advice and ideas for things to do with my daughter. I'm a stay-at-home mom to a 2-year old and I was at my wits end trying to come up with ideas of fun, easy, creative things to do with her that will keep her busy and occupied and help her learn. I wasn't very good at following through on ideas that I heard about from friends or read in other books or online because they seemed too complicated (aka: messy!) but this book broke it down and made it so simple. I highly recommend it!   
 

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6 comments:

  1. The dry erase crayons work well on windows too. I'm going to put the lacing kit and the beads on my kid craft wishlist.

    Thanks for the post.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The tissue paper looks fun. I got my daughter a weaving loom kit like I had when I was a girl. I hope she loves it as much as I did.

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    Replies
    1. That's awesome! I saw that too and almost got it...let me know how it goes!!

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  3. I love the beads but I think my little one is still to young. I have to check out the tissue one out!

    ReplyDelete