Customer Reviews

Look What You Can Make with Dozens of Household Items!

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I teach third grade and love this book. With art gone from the schools, we teachers spend a lot of our own money trying to give kids a sense of creativity. This craft book was just what I needed. I have so many of these household items--wrapping paper tubes, egg cartons, magazines and newspapers--and now my kids and I can create without my having to go back into my purse. Of course, some of the items are a little elementary (no pun intended) for third graders, but there a lot of things in here that we can enjoy. I have a friend whose five-year old fell in love with this book. She sat with me and went through every item. She's so excited about making some of these things. I'm getting a copy for her.

My five year-old has spent hours with this book, pouring over the ideas to become inspired to make her own projects. This is a TERRIFIC resource to have on hand. Great pictures are included with multiple ideas so that even a non-reader can get the idea. We absolutely LOVE this book!

For those that work with pre-school through elementary age children this is a great resource for inexpensive and creative art and crafts. Projects use items that are either low cost or items that can be obtained through recycling. I work with groups of children on a daily basis and find it very helpful.

This book is absolutely fantastic. What the title doesn't tell you (that the little yellow circle on the upper right hand corner of the cover does) is that this really is 8 books in 1. The eight sections of the book are: Boxes, Paper Bags, Tubes, Paper Plates, Egg Cartons, Craft Sticks, Newspapers & Magazines, and Plastic Bottles & Tubes. The end of each section has it's own title index and subject index, making searching very simple. The difficulty levels range throughout the book from easy (3 yr olds) to moderately hard (tweens doing crafts on their own). Suggestions are also given on how to expand on the ideas presented to create your own themes and versions of the crafts.

Instructions are great, not overly simplified but not too detailed. Materials are clearly stated in a colored box so you don't need to go searching through the text to find out what you will need (but don't include the obvious such as glue or scissors which is nice). While paints are recommended for many of the crafts and are listed in the materials section, you can do many of these without the use of paint, substituting markers, paper or pre-colored materials which is a huge plus for me as a "traveling art baby-sitter" type person as this helps reduce mess and supplies needed significantly.

One of my favorite parts, besides the organization of the book, is that there are actual pictures of each craft. These aren't just an artists drawing of what it should look like. These full-color pictures, while obviously not done by young children, create pretty accurate representations of the projects being done and give you an idea of the final look.

My only recommendation/wish for change would be to have a prep-time required, project-time estimate and age level index.

I highly recommend this book for anyone looking for art and craft projects to do with kids, or to have older kids do on their own, and aren't looking to spend a lot of money on supplies and kits. Great book! (P.S. Got mine "slightly used". Definitely the way to go).

I borrowed this book from a friend and had to purchase my own. It has hundreds of projects that are free or very little expense. Since I own a daycare that is important. The kids love the projects as well as the parents. We just use items that would have been thrown away, now those items get a secend life. I've had other books that use household items but they don't compare to this book.

This is a great resouce for a wide range of craft activities; there is something for every age/skill level (elementary) and budget. The full-color illustrations are very helpful.

I work at a preschool and saw this book in the teachers lounge library. I was amazed and so eager to use it. I decided that I am going to have to PURCHASE this book for my own library bc it is a great tool to have to use with your students and your own childre A+++++ *thumbs up*

The books is excellent because offer a lot of ideas for all ocassions and for all ages. The materials are easy to found. It's great for summer camps, sunday school and for the kids in school. I don't know how usefull will be this collection of books.

The book had lots of things that gave me further ideas for doing my hobby of Children's Craft. Plus craft projects I could use in both After School Care & Vacation Care work with children.

This is a great book. Just what I was looking for, a large book with hundreds of ideas, that helped me turn my garbage into art and fun!