You can recognize my love for Klutz by giving the creator of kid kits its own gift guide. Whenever I’m stuck on what to get for a kid, I know that I can go to a store that sells Klutz kits and find something. They’ve gotten better and better at introducing skills and ideas that you can put into practice even after the supplies in the kit run out. Here are some of our favorites.
Olive and I took up felting this year. She went to a felting class with my mom, and a couple weeks later we got a Klutz kit sample of Felting Friends. You can make adorable little felted animals, but even better than the outcome is the process. I find felting to be a totally therapeutic activity, and it’s possible I might have been making a squirrel which I was on conference calls for work. Shhhh.
I mentioned in my last gift guide how cool the Lego Batcave is for the functional elevator that works as a magic trick to transform Bruce Wayne into Batman. In this kit, you can use Legos to make and understand your own machines. Budding Rube Goldbergs can create machines that trigger levers, raise flags, make a board bounce down a pole, and more. Add Legos from your home collection and before you know it, you’ll have your own OK Go video. I’m saving this one for those long winter weekends stuck inside.
Washi Tape is beautiful and I’ve see it everywhere lately. Here’s a cool craft where you can trace a design on a sticker backing (or create your own design), apply washi tape, cut out the shape, and then voilà! A cool sticker! This one is a great pick for a sleepover or playdate project with a few kids.
Are you watching Star Wars Rebels? Because you should. It’s a cool show, my favorite of the newer entries to Star Wars canon. This book walks you through drawing Ezra, Sabine, Zeb, Chopper, Hera, and more, but it’s also a nice primer on figure drawing. Even though tracing is a big element of the book, there are tips for creating additional lines to add dimension, and stick figure shapes to learn proportion. The tools let you start with pencil, then ink and color when you’re ready.
Become a fashion designer using tracing paper, colored pencils, and figure art to create your own proportional ensembles. This is great for Project Runway fans to do their sketches before they head to Mood. The book has great tips for creating textures with colored pencils and designing your own fabric patterns.
If you’re a child of the 70s like me, you make look upon this kit with nostalgic fondness. The kit comes with project boards, background paper, and, of course, string and pins. Pin your design outline then use one of the string strategies in the book to fill in your pattern. The book shows a bunch of cute ways to hang your finished string craft—you can even get this ahead of the holidays for your kids to make gifts for others. Before you know it, your kids will be nailing into boards and stringing yarn and it’ll be the 70s all over again!
I really love this one for maker kids. The kit comes with thread, ribbons, and hardware, but the beautiful thing here is that the jewelry-making techniques are so applicable to hardware odds and ends you might have lying around the house, waiting to be turned into beautiful creations.
