The Little Hands Art Book from Ideals Books is a top-notch art idea book as far as I’m concerned. Designed for kids ages 2-6, it lays out craft ideas and supplies needed in a simple and easy-to-understand format. I’ve browsed through a lot of craft books for kids and I haven’t seen another that I liked quite so much as this one. I like it because it is simplistic in nature. There’s not a lot on the page. The instructions are straight forward. Yet while the ideas are simple, I wouldn’t have necessarily come up with them on my own.
I am a Wanna-Be-Crafty-Person, not a natural. I like to think I have a healthy imagination (and I do!) but when it comes to creating something that would please a child, I need help! I liked this book very much because it isn’t condescending to me as a parent, in that they don’t go into a lot of detail as to why painting, glueing and cutting is essential to the child’s brain development, etc. I understand that encouraging children to be creative is important. I just need encouragement for me to actually do that with my kid. This book was great. They even provide the recipes for things like homemade playdough, finger paint and flour paste in the back of the book. I think that is particularly helpful as I hate scrolling through a half dozen recipes online wondering which person’s “swear by” playdough recipe is the best. Everything I could possibly need for craft ideas is in one simple place — this book. All I was required to do was go out and buy paperplates and my son had a rousing good time.
My son is 2 and so I thought he’d be a pretty good tester of this book. I let him look through the book with me and we choose a few of the crafts to do that I thought would be age-appropriate. His favorite craft out of this book was the paper spider. (We’re big spider fans thanks to Charlotte’s Web.) After he made his spider he carted it all over the house for the next few days. Great idea! And I would never have thought of it. I’ll let our picture speak for itself. This book is great!
Carrie comes by her book obsession honestly, having descended from a long line of bibliophiles. She blogs about books regularly at Reading to Know.