Recently, for my younger daughter's fifth birthday, she received a lovely craft set which was a whole set of ceramic cups, saucers, teapot and sugar bowls to design and paint in whichever way she wished. It is made by Galt and I am very impressed by both the quality and the thoughtfulness that has been put into this set.

There are thirteen pieces to paint in total in this set. These are four miniature cups, four saucers, a teapot and lid, a sugar bowl with lid and a milk jug. These are all packaged well in plastic moulding so that there is no chance of any breakage before you open it. Also the box has a small plastic carry handle which my daughter likes to use and it's ideal if they are taking the kit to use in other places. Also you could choose to keep all the pieces in the plastic packaging when you have finished designing and painting, so that everything is in one place ready to take the tea set out and play with it.

The set also comes with twelve small paint pots with a range of colours. I was quite impressed with this as most of the art sets my daughters receive tend to have only half this number of paints with just the basic colours. There is definitely more choice and variety with this set. Also, as many parents will know, these tiny paint pots tend to be very fiddly and tricky to open - virtually impossible for a small child to open. This is definitely not the case with these paints as they have a very nifty flick mechanism that makes them much easier to open and to close again afterwards. After I showed my daughters how to do it, they do not need my help any more.

On the front of the box, the set is shown already painted with lots of lovely colourful designs. This is a nice guide for children who might want some ideas or something to copy, but my daughters - being the individuals that they are - have just gone completely for their own designs. And I have to say that I have never seen a more colourful patterned tea set ever! Also, because there are so many different pieces to paint, it is a great kit to do with a sister or a friend. Many kits that we see just have a single object to paint which makes it a much more solitary activity.

The set does come with instructions in a variety of languages but you could say that these are not really necessary as it is very obvious what you need to do. However it does come with a number of handy hints such as suggesting that the child paints a background colour and leaves that to dry before attempting to paint the pattern. There is also the recommendation that you have a damp cloth nearby in case you make a mistake and need to wipe it off quickly. Also it tells you that once the paint has been left to dry for one week it becomes permanent. There are nine handy hints in all and these are definitely worth reading.

It is suggested that this set should be for decorative purposes only (to keep it in the best condition) but where's the fun in that? I actually think that this kit is better than others is because your children are making things that they can actually use afterwards - and most small children love role playing tea parties etc. My daughters definitely do!

The price does seem to vary greatly for this kit so it is definitely worth shopping around. I have noticed though that currently (March 2010) that it is being sold on the John Lewis website for only £6.95 which seems to be very good value.