Cute dollies (Clothes Peg Cuties - Klutz Chicken Socks)

Member Name: juicy_lucy

Product:	Clothes Peg Cuties - Klutz Chicken Socks
Date:	03/02/08 (319 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Crafty makes

Disadvantages: Only 3 dolls

Clothes Peg Cuties

Another of the makes Little Miss received and which she was keen to try out.

I had never seen this type of product before and was impressed with the packaging and the general design of the book and craft kit. The kit comes in the form of a spiral bound book, which is good in itself because it means that once the page is opened, it stays open at that page- a bonus for budding clothes peg doll makers!

Attached to the side of the book is a zip up sturdy plastic wallet with all the bits and pieces necessary to make three dollies inside. These contents are: 3 wooden clothes pegs with faces already drawn on them; 3 flowers; 20 sequins in a range of colours, multi coloured wool; some pretend hair; glue in a very small squeezable tube with a screw on/off lid.

So, we're ready to make. The book does suggest that children should ask an adult for help with making the first dolly, and then they will be ready to make them on their own. I find that it's best to be on hand when children are using such things as scissors!

AS expected, there are 3 dollies to make: princess, ballerina and mermaid. All of the instructions are written on either one or two double page spreads and are set out clearly. The instructions start with details of exactly what you will need for the doll, and it's handy that these details are not only written but are shown in picture form. I find this helps Little Miss gather the things herself and encourages a bit of independence. Each set of instructions is written in stages with short sentences, simple language and pictures to go with the instructions. At the end of the set of instructions is a picture of the finished dolly- to avoid disappointment it's best if an adult tries to help make the finished result as close to the one in the book as possible.

After all of the instructions there are some pretty pop outs with which to decorate the dollies- tiaras, bags, shoes, fish, wands etc...all you could need for a highly decorated dolly. They do fall off but Little Miss is always pleased with the result if she has plenty of things attached- obviously works on the theory that more is more.

~~Other bits of information~~

The book is part of the Chicken Socks range of books, specially devised by the Klutz group for younger children. All of the books are distributed in the UK by Scholastic, but I am not certain whether they can be bought on their website.

For further information about the range of books, it's worth checking out www.klutz.com

ISBN: 1-59174-234-X

Publisher: Klutz, 2006

~~Other books by the same publishers~~

Having never heard of this publisher before, and liking this book, I checked out the website and found some interesting craft makes, including:

*The Foam Book
* Melty Beads
*Pop bead people
* make your own twinkly tiaras
* How to make pom pom animals
* The super scissors book

~~Verdict~~

We liked this little craft book. The kit came with everything we needed to make the three dollies although as I often find with these kind of kits, we could have done with some more glue. The instructions are clear and the dolls do actually turn out like the ones in the picture. As I mentioned before, the fact that it's spiral bound means that once opened, it stays open, so no need to prop it open with heavy items.

The only down side is that there are instructions for only 3 dolls, so once she had made them all, the book became useless. It may have been useful to supply materials for 3 of the dollies and suggestions for different ones.

All in all, a nice craft activity.

Thanks for reading.

Daniela x

Summary: A craft activity