Boy Craft!

As a craft-loving mum of two children, a boy and a girl, I'm always on the look out for child friendly project ideas. They both enjoy creating various things but have such a big sense of achievement when they don't have any assistance from me. The market seems to be swamped with books for girls so I was delighted when I came across "Boy Craft". 

I left the book out in the living room and waited for my son to discover it. It didn't take long. He was very quickly immersed whist reading all about the different projects. He thought the book was 'cool' because he didn't have to 'share with any of the girls'! 

The first project he chose to make was the water bomb! We just used plain paper to practise but he agrees with me that using pages from an old comic is a great idea. The method is clear and easy to follow. I personally liked that the written instructions were accompanied with simple diagrams for each step. My son hadn't realised how we were going to get from a flat folded piece of paper to a 3D object. He was so surprised when he blew into it, "It's like magic!" I suspect he'll be making quite a few of these as water bombs when the weather warms up and he can play outside!

He then flicked through the book again and decided he wanted to make a bat! I didn't have any old fashioned pegs but a local friend came to my rescue. He really enjoyed making this but needed some help with the overall shape of the wings because he had trouble enlarging the template from the back of the book. It's a shame it couldn't be full sized but it was an obstacle easily overcome with a bit of my help.  Once he made his bat, he decided that the idea would work well as a butterfly. He is planning on making a seagull next and hanging them all on a mobile in his bedroom! 

From a mum's point of view, I think the projects are great. There are some quick and easy ones to make, but also some that are a bit more fiddly. I like that it isn't full of stereotypical things for boys. Yes there is a section on 'Creepy Craft' but this is accompanied by 'Stitch Craft' and 'Wool Craft'. Some of the projects need some advance planning with a few tools and materials but I reckon most of them can be made with supplies that can be recycled from the average household. As the name of the book suggests, this is primarily full of projects that would appeal more to boys but my daughter is keen to try out a few of them! 

When buying books like this, I'm always a bit dubious if they will be worth the money. With this one, if you take into consideration the number of hours of entertainment it contains, i am certain it is worth every penny!

All in all, this gets a big thumbs up from the whole family!

X 

Nicola 

And here's the special offer for our lovely readers...

To order Boycraft by Sara Duchars and Sarah Marks for £10 including UK P&P, telephone 01903 828503 or email mailorders@lbsltd.co.uk, quoting the offer code APG99 and the book ISBN 9780711234895.