Summer Crafts with Baker Ross

With the Summer Holidays nearly upon us, you might be looking for some activities to keep the children amused on those rainy days....and lets face it, there's bound to be more of them than sunny ones! 

Fortunately Baker Ross have lots of fun and exciting Summery crafts in their new range and we were sent a big box of goodies to try out. Elliot always gets really excited when we get a new Baker Ross delivery and he couldn't wait to tear into the box and see what we had! 

The first thing we spotted was the Seaside Sand Art Pictures (£2.96) . We have tried something similar out before and it was great fun so I knew it would be a big hit with Elliot. There are 8 different designs on the pictures and you peel the individual stickers off to reveal the sticky surface. All you do is tip a bit of sand on it, give it a little tap and shake off any excess. As long as you've given it a shake, the sand will stick to the picture and it shouldn't create anymore mess. To keep things neat (and the sand confined to one place!) we used trays to do the pictures on. This meant any loose sand could just be tipped away once we'd finished. 

We really enjoyed this activity although Elliot did need a bit of help peeling the stickers off as it was a little fiddly. My only critism is that the bags of sand didn't come in resealable packets - this would have been really useful! The sand was really bright and vibrant and the finished pictures look really cool I think. 

Two of Elliot's favourite Baker Ross activities are stickers and stampers so he was quite pleased to see both in the box! The stampers (£3.49 for 10) are really great for his age as they are nice and chunky and perfect for little hands, You can use them with ink pads or paint and Baker Ross have lots of different ones to choose from on their website. 

We were sent a nice big bag of dog stickers (£2.99) and Elliot spent ages sorting them out! Included in the Baker Ross box was a packet of bright rainbow paper so Elliot used this to put his stickers onto - an activity that he never gets bored of! 

As well as crafts, Baker Ross also stock a large range of small toys, the type you get in party bags, the kind kids love!  We were sent a selection of these and I think they will be really useful in the Summer holidays when Elliot has his friends round...anything for a bit of peace and quiet ;)

He immediately spotted the pull back snails (£2.25) and these were the surprise hit of the entire selection! Who doesn't love a racing snail ;)

For more ideas on entertaining your children in the Summer holidays, check out the Baker Ross website 

Disclaimer: We received the products for the purpose of the honest review. All views are my own

Baker Ross Valentines & Mothers Day Crafts

We are part of the Baker Ross Blogger Network and throughout the year we get sent lots of lovely things to test out and review.

Our latest box of goodies contained lots of Valentine's Day and Mothers Day crafts and Elliot couldn't wait to get stuck in. Fortunately we've had lots of wet days recently so plenty of opportunities to get arty! 

"Let me take a photo without your hand in the way!"....impossible!

We were sent the Tulip Pencil Pot Kits, 4-Part Multi Paint Pad, Heart Pop-a-crayons, Butterfly Ceramic Flower Pots, Flower Stampers, Heart Stampers, Butterfly Wand Kits and Bug Fingerprint Decoration Kits.

Elliot wanted to open the paint pads first - can't think why!! I have to say these were a bit tricky to open, I was expecting the plastic top to peel off but I had to use scissors and cut into the plastic. Could be a bit tricky for little fingers to open! We used to pads with the heart and flower stampers and it was a really great activity for Elliot to do. He got through about 10 sheets of paper and enjoyed using all the different colours, and then mixing all the colours together to make a multi-coloured stamp. He then used his fingers to experiment with finger and thumb prints...good job he was having a bath later that evening ;)

The stampers are nice and chunky and great for little hands. Easy to wash after too - I used baby wipes!

Next we moved onto the bug decorations - these were really bright and cute and we had to make them all! The kits are really simple and perfect for children, it doesn't matter if things are stuck on a little wonky as it just adds to the charm I think. This kit contained mini ink pads so it was another chance for Elliot to get his fingers dirty! The only thing I needed to help with was threading the ribbon and knotting it, the rest of the bugs were completed by Elliot.

On our next rainy day we decided to have a go at the Tulip Pencil Pots which would make a lovely little Mother's Day present. Again these were really simple for Elliot to make - I did help with the gluing but the sticking was all his handywork! I added a bit of sellotape to the backs of the tulip to help the petals stay in place but this is another great activity for younger children.

This afternoon we decided to try out the Butterfly Wand Kits and we even managed to get Elliot's Daddy involved....whilst the football wasn't on anyway! Elliot is at that age where he likes to do things himself so this was another activity where we could just let him get on with it. The only thing he needed help with was tying the ribbon around the stick but he loved doing all the sticking and gluing.

He spent the rest of the afternoon waving his wand and putting spells on us....."Hocus Pocus, I'm going to turn you into a sausage!" ;)

We've yet to try out the ceramic plant pots or the heart crayons but I'm pretty sure we'll have some more wet days this week so I'll definitely be reaching for the craft box!

All the items we reviewed can be found on the Baker Ross website for under a fiver which I think is great value. The kits are great for younger children because they are very simple to put together and won't take too long which is very important for kids with short attention spans!

I think a homemade gift is much more special than something bought so I will certainly be pointing my husband in the direction of the Valentine's Day and Mothers Day gifts on the Baker Ross website!

Father's Day Crafts with Baker Ross

As part of the Baker Ross Network, we were sent a big box of Father's Day themed goodies. These included Wooden Keyring Kits, Wooden decorations, Face Cards, Handprint decoration kits and Tshirt Craft Boxes (not pictured)

Why is it so hard to get a toddler to look at the camera and smile!

As always Elliot couldn't wait to get stuck in! We decided to make the handprint decorations first. The instructions were easy to follow, the hardest part was finding a photo to go in it! Elliot only has little hands so we drew round my hand, he did say that the fingers looked a bit like sausages - thanks Elliot!! 

Elliot did get a bit over-enthusiastic and broke the frame but once it was stuck down, it wasn't noticeable! He loved sticking on the stars and he was really pleased with the finished result. 

Our next activity was the keyrings. These were a little fiddly getting the string through the beads and I had to take over on this one but Elliot did help by choosing which colour was going on where! 

We ran out of time for the other activities but we will definitely be finishing these in time for Father's Day. You can't beat an arty gift like these for the little ones to give their dad!

Baker Ross just have such an extensive selection on their website - there is something for everyone's creativity level, even people like me who have zero creativity! All the craft kits we received are all price under a fiver which is great value. 

For more Father's Day ideas, check out the Baker Ross website

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