kids-toy

Creator’s Kit – toys that help to find and develop a child’s artistic abilities and skills. They form taste, develop fine motor skills, coordination of movements, fantasy and spatial thinking. Working with the set, the child learns to concentrate and plan their activities. Such toys develop perseverance, which improves student performance.

Unlike other educational toys, creativity kits allow the child to create their own original “product” and give the child the joy of creativity. The resulting small “masterpiece” will decorate the interior of the room or will be a good gift for relatives and friends. Working with sets, the kid will gain knowledge about the properties of objects, get acquainted with the world’s masterpieces of art, and expand his horizons.

Creative kits include materials (plastic, plaster, fabrics, etc.), tools and instructions for working with them (schemes, samples). Often such sets have frames that give the picture, fresco, chasing a complete look.

• Drawing set
• Sculpting kit

Kind

Choosing a set for creativity, you should focus primarily on the preferences of the child. The whole variety of kits can be reduced to three main groups:

• painting – drawing, creating stained-glass windows, frescoes, engravings (develops visual perception, a sense of color);
• sculpture – modeling, creating plaster handicrafts (develops tactile perception, spatial thinking);
• needlework – decoration, applique, creation of children’s jewelry, paper figures, knitting, embroidery, sawing, burning, chasing (develops fine motor skills).

For drawing – the kits contain paper or a coloring book, paints (including fluorescent – glowing in the dark), pencils, felt-tip pens, crayons. In more complex sets, there are items that require painting (figures of fairy-tale characters, plates, vases). Oil paint by number kits are even more difficult, but allow you to create a painting that looks like the work of real artists.

For decoration – in their composition they resemble the previous ones, but also include mosaics, beads, sparkles, multi-colored varnish and other elements. With the help of such sets, the kid will learn how to decorate various household items, such as a candlestick or a jewelry box.

For creation stained glass windows – are completed with a plastic template with a pattern applied to it and special paints. There are sets for stained-glass windows on glass, consisting of drawings that are glued to glass or tiles. If necessary, these “stained-glass windows” can be easily peeled off. Stained glass kits are suitable for children who already know the basics of drawing.

For frescoes – consist of a three-layer cardboard base (drawing/template-adhesive-protective film) and colored quartz sand. To obtain an image, it is necessary to peel off the protective film from each section of the base in turn and fill it with sand of the corresponding color (the reference is the picture on the package of the set).

For creating engravings – include a dark plastic or thick paper base and a chisel (scraper). In the process of engraving, the child scratches out a lighter design (often gold and silver) along an already existing contour. Such a set requires special care and perseverance, but it develops a neat handwriting.

For applications – usually consist of colored paper and glue. More complex sets contain paper of various textures and additional materials to create a three-dimensional 3D application. Instead of glue, these kits have double-sided adhesive tape (adhesive tape).

For modeling – are completed with regular or fluorescent plasticine, templates, models for modeling, various tools (for example, stacks, syringes for squeezing) and forms. Also, the kits may contain kinetic sand, clay, multi-colored salt dough and innovative plastic mass. Some sets are equipped with a children’s electric potter’s wheel.

For creation of gypsum crafts – contain plaster, paints and molds for pouring (for example, figurines of fairy-tale characters or photo frames). Such kits are relevant for older children, as the resulting plaster product is very fragile and can easily break.

For sawing with a jigsaw – consist of a jigsaw, jigsaw files, printed plywood sheets, sandpaper and other items.

For burning out – include an electric burner with replaceable nozzles and printed plywood sheets.

For coinage – contain a metal blank, drawing, wooden sticks with a blunt and sharp end.

For creating children’s jewelry – include a variety of beads and beads, a needle and thread, with which you can create a necklace or bracelet. More complex sets allow you to create complex products from cord, beads and accessories.

For creating figurines from paper (kirigami, origami) – consist of several types of colored paper, cardboard base, template, brush, glue, thread with a needle and other tools.

For knitting – consist of various longitudinal and round machines, a plastic needle, a hook, balls of thread.

For embroidery – contain the basis for embroidery, a needle, colored threads, beads.

For creating cosmetics (lacquer, soap, perfume) – have a different configuration:

• for easy – contain nail polishes, decorative stones or markers for art painting, fixatives for stones;
• for soap – consist of a soap base, dyes, fragrances, molds and other accessories;
• for perfumery – include a perfume base, measuring cup, funnel, spatula, bottles and other items.

For creating decorative candles – contain a wick, gel, cups, colored sand and other items.

Purpose

There are kits for creativity, for example, for painting or creating murals, equally interesting for both boys and girls. However, there are some types of kits that are suitable only for boys or exclusively for girls.

For boys – kits for modeling, sawing with a jigsaw, burning, embossing, kits for creating engravings, plaster handicrafts.

For girls – kits for creating jewelry, cosmetics, knitting, embroidery.

• Set for boys sawing with a jigsaw
• Cosmetic set for girls

Age

Most of the kits for creativity are designed for children. from 3 years, since creating an image or figure requires independence and skills. The child should have an idea about the final result of his work.

Therefore, you should purchase sets corresponding to the level of development and age of the baby (the age group is usually indicated on the product packaging), and then gradually complicate them. If there is no corresponding marking, it is worth contacting the seller for advice.

General recommendations for different age groups:

• 1-2 years – drawing sets with harmless and easily washed off water-based finger paints and mats; modeling kits (kits without additional tools);
• 3 years – sets for application and decoration;
• 4 years – sets for simple children’s jewelry, drawing kits (with coloring pages);
• 5-6 years – kits for creating more complex decorations, kits for painting (with plates, vases and figurines for painting), kits for creating frescoes.
• 7-8 years old – kits for creating figures from paper, candles, soap, perfumes, kits for creating stained-glass windows, engravings, plaster handicrafts. Sets for painting with oil paints by numbers, kits for knitting and embroidery will also be relevant;
• 10 years and older – all sets of a variety of materials and tools that pose more complex tasks for the child.

Important: if a child is not interested in a set for creativity, just put it aside for a while, because the interests of children change very quickly.

Items

All items in the set (including tools) must be made from environmentally friendly substances, as the child can always taste something. Some tools, such as a needle or a chisel, can be harmful to a child’s health. Therefore, working with them requires caution and adult supervision.

Council

• You should purchase kits in specialized stores. It is better to choose goods of well-known brands that guarantee the high quality of their products.
• Before buying a kit, pay attention to the presence of a quality certificate for the product (the key point is the safety of the material for the child).
• In the beginning, it is worth buying simple kits for drawing or modeling, so that the child gets acquainted with these types of art and masters the simplest skills. Let the kid learn to color pictures or sculpt simple shapes (for example, balls). Then you can move on to more complex sets.