Finger Knitting Fun: 28 Cute, Clever, and Creative Projects for Kids

Vickie Howell's popular shows have introduced audiences at PBS, HGTV and the DIY network to the worlds of knitting needles and crochet hooks. Now, this Austin-based mom is going beyond hooks and needles.

Filled with 28 projects that only need the ends of your hands to work, this book is perfect for anyone looking for a quick crafting fix. Every project is literally hands on and taps into developing creativity and motor skills while having a lot of fun!

My thoughts:

What a great craft book for girls of all ages.  I had fun doing this with my eleven year old daughter.  I remember playing with yarn as a young girl, but we never had a book like this.  This book is loaded with twenty eight different yarn projects.   Each project has a colorful page of what the project will look like and on the opposite page it tells you everything you need and step by step very easy to follow instructions.

I have done the head turn headband, daisy chain necklace and a magical mobile with my daughter   so far from this book.  They all turned out great. It is also fun going to the craft store and picking out the different colors of yarn. These projects would be great to do at birthday parties, and even in classrooms.  

Book Review: The Paint Book and The Pencil Book‏

 The Paint Book is bursting with equally inventive and imaginative ideas and things to do for children, this time with all things paint. The book is packed full of projects and creative inspiration and has sections on fun effects, crafty art, prints and doodles, painting pictures, creating brushes and feet and finger painting. With plenty of bright photographs throughout, it offers helpful hints and tips and contains everything you need to discover the joy of paint.

My thoughts:

This book is loaded with fun things your child can do with paint.  I never knew there were so many neat things crafts you could do with paint.  From toddlers to adults, there is something for everyone.  

This book has seventy different paint projects in it.  And each project has directions and colorful pages that show what your finished work might look like.  And the directions are very easy to follow.   I have a seven and ten year old, and we each found something that we liked in this book and created it.  

Fun book to have if you have children, and even a great book for a teacher in their classroom.

http://www.qbookshop.com/

Following on from the hugely successful Stick Book, The Pencil Book is packed full of ideas for things to make and do with a pencil. It provides a starting point for an active imagination and brings together drawing, creating, picture making, adventures, craft, games and play. It opens up a world of creativity, with plenty of photographs to add inspiration and with fun facts dotted throughout (did you know that a pencil will write in zero gravity, upside down and under water, or that the world's biggest pencil stands at 65 ft high?).

My thoughts;

This book is packed with seventy different crafts that you can do with any color pencil.  From making a pencil frame to pencil shaving crafts.   From young to old, there is something everyone can find fun to do in this colorful, easy to follow directions book.  Each craft  also gives you a list of what you need for that particular craft.   And also a picture of what the finished product may look like.

My family has had much fun with this book.  And I am quite sure we will continue to create from this book.  We love to make homemade gifts for the holidays.  And we will be making some of our gifts from this book.  Great book for a daycare and teacher.  

http://www.qbookshop.com/

  

The Paper Hat Book Review

Complimentary product was received for free in exchange for an honest review

Hats are pure fun and the perfect item to cap off any costume or ensemble. The right headgear ensures complete transformation, especially on the head of an imaginative child.
The Paper Hat Book offers creative families 20 fantastic paper hats, all of which can be created quickly and easily from readily accessible papers: shopping bags, newspapers, comics, recycled story books, magazines, packaging scraps, and junk mail!
Artist and designer Alyn Carlson creates hats that are perfect for birthday parties, playdates, costumes, and everyday dress up. Each hat can be styled to perfectly suit the wearer by merely selecting the right paper and colors. The hat themes range from Floral Flappers to Viking Warriors, and from superheroes and pirates to beautiful butterfly hats

My thoughts:
This is a really great crafty book.  What kid doesn't like to make things especially hats?  And what parent doesn't like the idea of recycling paper (junk mail, scrap copy paper etc.).

With having twenty different paper hats to make, there is something in this book that just about any kid can find that they would like.  Alyn Carlson gives very detailed and pictured directions for each hat.  She also has a child pictured with the finished crafted hat in color.

My daughter who is ten had some friends over for a sleep over party, and we made some paper hats from this book.  I do think that adult help is needed to get started.  The girls didn't understand some of the illustrated directions.  The girls took their paper hats home the next day with them, and two moms inquired of this book and where they could get one.