Description:
Busy grownups generally appreciate quick ideas for kids to be creative. In 20-Minute Crafts, part of Kathie Stull's Hand-On Crafts for Kids series, parents learn they can provide a few general supplies like foam sheeting, wooden cutout shapes, craft sticks, paints, Styrofoam balls, and chenille stems, then let youngsters go to town constructing an assortment of useful and just-for-fun projects. Masks, frames, fans, pencil toppers, decorative magnets, holiday and party decorations, and many other kid-friendly ideas abound. The volume could have used better organization: the table of contents is bewildering, and there is no immediately discernible sequence of projects. The overtly commercial angle is a bit off-putting too: each project is "sponsored" by a major craft manufacturer, though the materials lists do call only for generic supplies. Also, the book claims to be geared to 7- to 12-year-olds, but most kids at the upper part of this age range will consider themselves too sophisticated for most of these projects. Younger ones, however, will probably enjoy them, and even a well-coordinated 5-year-old can handle many of them with adult supervision. --Amy Handy
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