365 things to make and do: 1 Spiral-bound – 31 Oct. 2007

i bought this to do crafts with my nearly 4 yr old grandson.it arrived today and looks fab.not used yet but excited to do so.its not suitable for him without help, but full of ideas that we can do togetherit covers various art techniques that we all may have forgotten from school.it is easy to follow with clear pics and each idea comes with suggestions of how to apply, once you've used a technique you can vary its aplication to keep it interesting and relevant to your childs fave characters or interests.i may even use it myself for party decs etc 😂

This book is inspirational even for me as an adult, let alone my three year old twins. Nearly everything in the book I am intending to make/do. Most of the materials are found in the house. It is mainly focused on drawing and painting. This book has been the main inspiration and confidence booster for my children's interest in drawing and crafts. There so many good and fairly easy ideas that even as an (amateur) artist I never could have thought of. Their friends that come round have really enjoyed doing things from the book too.I have looked at and bought several other craft/drawing books and I think this is by far the best. All the pages are beautiful to look at too. The book is spiral bound with lovely thick paper and is a very good price too, so makes excellent Birthday presents.

Bought this book to go through with my 3.5yr old daughter this Winter. I went through it cover to cover when it arrived and I think its great. There are some things that are doubled up...so perhaps they were desperately trying to fill in some spaces to get this thing to the printers. Like there are atleast 3 finger-print pages. Where you press your finger in paint and then press your finger all over the page and once dry, make them into...flowers or bugs or frogs using a pen. Which is fun, but a bit of a cop-out. But having said that there are lots of fun things to do, like making hanging decorations for the Christmas tree. Spoon or stick puppets, pop out cards, quilling, tissue paper collages, dangly cowboys and monsters, embossing, paper weaving, and how to make a robot out of old electronic junk like used up batteries or old bits of cord!As I said, there are a few double ups, but each double up atleast uses a different theme, or twist to the idea. Don't expect big projects...I think the robot page was the most impressive. There is nothing that is more than 3 or so steps, no using old bottles or toilet paper rolls. These ideas are so easy...even I...the clumsiest person is the world can do them. Most of these ideas are really 10 minute jobs, but you can make an afternoon of it by making a few of each item and decorating them well, and whos to say you cant do 2-3 of them in a day. Also the difficulty level isn't much more than Kindy, I mean I will obviously be doing all these ideas with my little girl, and doing all the cutting and gluing, but I think once the child can read the book, they can probably do 99% on their own. So I think say 12yr olds will find this book boring, but younger kiddies might well just love it, especially as its so easy and they might be really sucessful in doing it themselves. I remember being really frustrated as a kid when my projects never turned out like the pictures...but these ideas are pretty fool proof.Most of it is pen, paint, and crayon related rather than 'making', but there is still quite a lot of making in the book. And I'd day the book is fairly neutral, in regards to boys or girls and if the parent has an imagination there shouldnt be a problem. My daughter liked her dangly cowboy, but you could make it a dangly princess...its up to you to draw and cut out. And the 'fairy land' could be made 'stinky bug land' for boys. Or the cute fuzzy felt animals....could be hairy felt monsters. The book allows you to be creative.In regards to supplies...most of the time you should have it in the house. To try some out today I needed a magazine, drinking straws, glue, tape, string, and some cardboard. I never have craft cardboard...but I cut up the packaging the book came in! Other tasks ask for felt, bits of material, kitchen foil, tissue paper, newspaper, card, sewing material, beads (to be used as noses, or eyes) glitter, paints and brushes, etc.....nothing that would break the bank. And as I said, I don't keep crafts in the house, so I just improvised.Book is very sturdy, thick glossy pages, and the spiral is covered...so good for destructive and impaitent 3yr olds :) and has beautiful illustrations that my daughter just loved even if she didnt understand them!I think its great as a starter or intro into crafts, especially for younger children. There are no impressive or complicated tasks in here. There may be in the other Usborne craft books with the "50 things...etc", but with 365 ideas...and the price.. Im still pretty impressed.

For crafting

This book is fab, it has great ideas- all with clear step to step instructions and illustrations. Every page is bright and colourful, and i have even found a few ideas that i can adapt slightly for my own crafting needs, i can also see my mum who works in a nursery borrowing the book too! My only criticism is that there aren't any templates at the back of the book which would greatly improve the book. Also if you are looking for a book to use recycled boxes/bottles etc this probably isn't the book for you as it is mainly paint, felt and drawing crafts. A book that will be a favourite for a while yet!

Bought this as a pressie for our 5 yr old for Christmas but would easily suit an older child just as well. There are heaps of different ideas from puzzles and colouring to things to make and do. My daughter loves the drawing ideas, showing how simple shapes build up to create amazing pictures, for example the haunted castle is broken down into simple, easy to follow diagrams which helped her draw her own. A really good buy. Nice hard back book, with spiral binding so it opens easily and stays open, bright, vivid printing and lots of templates to help your designs come out just as they look in the book. A great buy

I love it, its bright, beautiful and super easy to follow. It really gets your creative juices going. If your child likes arts and crafts this book is a must for both boys and girls.I have adapted some of the ideas to fit our purpose making our fostered children's rooms their own. The children have loved adapting and creating their very own master pieces to take pride of place on their bedroom walls.I highly recommend this book! It has helped me a lot, as I was running out of ideas and didn't fancy trolling through the internet!The book was very carefully wrapped in bubble wrap, which we can recycle using our lovely book. Thank you