Adding that extra sparkle! (Sparkly Things to Make and Do - Leonie Pratt)

Member Name: kingfisher111

Product:	Sparkly Things to Make and Do - Leonie Pratt
Date:	25/06/09 (142 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: fun sparkly projects for young arts and crafters!

Disadvantages: no indication about difficulty of projects, no materials listed

My six year old daughter really loves making things and can often be found busily cutting, sticking and colouring in a quiet corner and then producing some wonderful masterpiece! She loves getting stuck into projects so all the Usborne activity books with their fun suggestions are ideal for her. The latest one we have started using is the Sparkly Things to Make and Do book which she absolutely loves!

The book contains eighteen projects to work on so it could keep your little artist busy for a long time. There is a good variety among the project but the one thing that they all have in common is that they are all very sparkly! Some of the different ideas include a flower fairy tiara, glitter bugs, a sparkly picture frame and a mermaid bookmark plus lots more wonderful ideas as well.

Each project is set out over two pages with step by step instructions. All of the illustrations and backgrounds are really attractive and colourful which meant that the moment my daughter laid eyes on the book she just wanted to get started.

The instructions are broken down into very manageable steps in reasonable child friendly speak. Now that my daughter is pretty much reading fluently she is able to follow the instructions for herself, However, for a younger or less fluent reader an adult or older child would need to read these out. There are also pictures to accompany the instructions and these are really helpful for keeping on track and checking that you have done the right thing. I think that, along with her reading ability, these really help my daughter to work on the projects independently (which she pretty much insists on these days!)

The book contains over 300 sparkly stickers which your child can use to adorn all the wonderful projects, but obviously you have to find all the other materials that you will need. This leads me to my first gripe about this book which is the fact that they do not list the materials needed at the start of each project. It would be so much easier if they did this so that you are sure that you have everything you need before starting. You have to read it all through first and then there's always the chance that you miss something and there's nothing more frustrating than being halfway through a project and having to stop because you are missing something vital - especially when you are six!

Having said that though, most of the materials are every day art and craft materials such as paper, glue, foil, pipe cleaners, felt pens and so on. AS my daughter is so much into her crafts, she does have a big box full of 'stuff' so luckily we normally find what we want.

So far she has made a wonderful flying fairy card which was very simple and easy to make but is a very impressive pop-up card. She has also made some beautiful frosted flowers that now adorn her bedroom wall and a mermaid bookmark. I have to say that to start with I have tried to steer her towards what look like the more manageable projects although there is no indication about the degree of difficulty. Neither does it seem like the projects get more complex as the book progresses. I wish that they would give some indication of the difficulty or the amount of help needed and also the amount of time that a project is likely to take. I do think that these small suggestions would make this lovely book even better!

The suggested age for this book is five years and above but I think that now my daughter is six the projects are much more 'doable' for her. I think that you would have to pick the projects quite carefully for a five year old.

Overall though, despite my one or two complaints I do feel that this book is very good for young arts and crafters and will be quite inspirational in providing them with lots of ideas. And as it can be bought from Amazon for only £3.99 but will provide hours of entertainment I think that's very good value.

Summary: Fun and sparkly projects!