Book Review
20-Minute Crafts is a very child and success-oriented book. It
is written with the child in mind, a fact that is evident in the
appealing craft ideas. Not only are their full page photos of every
craft with an attractive background there are also children’s
drawings relevant to the theme of the craft on the page with the
instructions. At the beginning of the book there is an about the
author section, an introduction and a section called three important
elements that describes what the hands on approach for kids is all
about. It is also important to read the before you begin section.
This will ensure children know how to read and work with the instructions
and patterns as well as preparing your materials and techniques
required to make some of the crafts (painting basics, dry-brushing,
adding dots and highlights, using markers, gluing basics, using
glitter, bending wire and rubber stamping). I especially like that
the author addresses the issue of projects requiring supervision,
cleaning up your work surface and what to do to achieve best results
for your craft by following directions closely.
When I first flipped through the pages of 20-Minute Crafts I fell
so much in love with the crafts it was hard to narrow down my favourite
choices. Children can choose from a wide variety of craft ideas
for occasions such as Valentine’s Day, Easter, Father’s
Day, birthdays, back to school, sports, fall, Halloween and Christmas.
The craft projects include decorations, jewellery, frames, masks,
bookmarks, magnets, a suncatcher, wind chime, switchplate cover,
water bottle cover, mousepad, animal crafts, fans, garden stakes,
pencil toppers, doll, wind socks, mobile, glove spider, candy cones,
topiary, ornaments, angels and a card. I really like that the patterns
for the crafts in this book are included with the instructions instead
of in a separate section at the back of the book. It makes them
more readily accessible and saves children time having to search
for them, time that could be put toward making the craft.
The entire flavor of this book is appealing, not only for the children
it is meant for but for adults as well. The projects in 20-Minute
Crafts are so fun and cute parents would probably love to get in
on the act and not only enjoy making them but reading the jokes
and quotes in the book as well. There are jokes/quotes with some
of the crafts and relevant to the subject of the craft (i.e. “It’s
love, it’s love that makes the world go ‘round.”-French
song with the valentine frame craft and “What’s black
and white and red all over?” A penguin with a sunburn!”
from the paint-roller penguin craft). While some may find them corny
or silly they are typical of child humor. |
