Create Abilities for Kids

I don't know about you, but my kids are always looking for ways to entertain themselves. They love to create, color, and draw. When they were in preschool, I was always amazed at the ideas that their teachers had for crafts and creative expression.

I like to believe that I am creative, but I think that in reality I am good at creating something when I have an example in front of me. I look for inspiration (or full-blown direction) when I am creating scrapbook pages, decorating a cake or doing a needlepoint. Same is true when it comes to activities for the kids. I am not good at coming up with the ideas, but am great at working with them to complete a craft or activity.

We recently had the chance to check out Create Abilities for Kids.

"Create Abilities for Kids offers a unique solution to busy parents looking for ways to maximize quality time with their young children. [Their] age-appropriate art kits are designed for ages three, four or five. They contain all of the materials and instructions needed to create an art 'masterpiece'. And these all-inclusive kits will be delivered to the subscriber's mailbox each month. This saves the parent time in planning, getting the materials, and doing the prep work because [they've] already done all of that for them."

I really like that the kit comes with everything that is needed for the activity. It even includes the glue and the paint brushes!

My daughter was looking for something to do, so I pulled out one of the kits. It was nice because I could simply open up the zipped storage bag and pull out all of the supplies that she needed. The project that we had chosen was a Cinnamon Acorn. The pieces for the acorn came pre-cut and there was a container of paint, a container of glue and a container of cinnamon. There was also a foam brush and a small paint brush.

Paint the bottom of the acorn:

Sprinkle cinnamon over the wet paint on the bottom:

Place the black diamonds on top:

The finished acorn:

I liked that I was able to set her up with the activity and guide her through each step. She thought it was pretty cool and as she was making it asked if she could hang it in her room when it was done. When she was adding the cinnamon to the craft, she kept saying "I like the smell of cinnamon, it smells so good". It was a simple and straight-forward craft. I liked that the directions were simple and that there was flexibility - she could put the diamonds on the top in whatever way suited her and she could add as much cinnamon as she wanted. There was no right or wrong.

In addition, the instruction sheet also includes some facts to share with your child. These are not only interesting, but can spur additional conversation. On the acorn activity, one of the facts was that a 100 year old oak tree produces on average 2200 acorns. So, we started to talk about how Scrat (from Ice Age) would love to find a mature tree. For all the trouble that he had with that one acorn, imagine if he had an old oak tree around - he would have more than he would know what to do with.

Creative Abilities for Kids offers monthly subscriptions for their kits. You can choose to receive 2, 3 or 4 kits per month and can select them for a 3, 4, or 5 year old. If you have several children that you are buying for, they do offer discounts for kits for multiple children at the same address. Many of the kits are themed around holidays or events - the acorn craft was for the celebration of the start of fall.

With Creative Abilities for Kids, you can have a steady supply of activities and crafts, without having to maintain an extensive amount of supplies or having to buy more than you need of the supplies.

No compensation was received for this post. A complimentary set of kits was provided so that we could experience them and share about our experience. All opinions expressed are my own or that of my family.