We are a home full of craft lovers. My daughters, my son, and I are always trying to create something fun. Crafting is such a fantastic way to utilize your time. It’s so beneficial to a child’s development to encourage creativity and innovation. Needless to say, we’re constantly looking for new crafts to get involved with. Because of this, I jumped at the chance to try MindWare activity sets!
MindWare has many fantastic educational toys and activities available for children but my absolute favorite, and those I opted for, were the Make Your Own Snow Globes and Make Your Own Porcelain Bowls. My almost eight year old just started a snow globe collection of her own and I saw this and thought how perfect would it be to be able to add snow globes that she made herself to her own collection?! It looked simple enough in the description and it sure was. MindWare’s Make Your Own Snow Globes comes with several colors of clay and a clay knife (it’s not sharp and just plastic so I wouldn’t worry at all about safety with this!) to create your own little characters to put inside the snow globe. You bake the clay to harden your creation, and then fill the plastic snow globe with glitter, which is included, and water.
The instruction booklet includes ideas for what to make with your clay but my oldest daughter chose to make a cloud with a rainbow peeking out and a “girl with a bunny and a ball” at the bottom. I made the mistake of not baking this right away and she put it in reach of her brother, who decided that it needed tiny clay balls to be adorned on it. My oldest daughter was a bit disappointed about her creation but after some thought, she said that the added embellishments could just be “sparkles on the rainbow”. See, we are an inventive crowd here! My little man’s addition to the MindWare Make Your Own Snow Globes told me is that this craft really is applicable to all ages because my son, who isn’t even two yet, understood the idea of making things with clay. It is recommended for ages 8+ but I’m always advancing my little ones on the crafts because I figure, why not, as long as there’s supervision?!
We’ll most certainly be buying another several sets of MindWare‘s Make Your Own Snow Globes because I want to do one (what, I can’t be a kid too?!) and I want all of the kids to get the chance to create their own snow globe. Even if I don’t see what they’re seeing when they create something, isn’t the artistic attitude all about creativity and beauty being in the eye of the beholder? Make Your Own Snow Globes would obviously make a great holiday craft too, and I have had so many ideas about that! Every year we could make new snow globes and write the year on the bottom or give one as a gift to family. MindWare’s Make Your Own Snow Globes are the kind of craft that has endless possibilities and I think you’d absolutely never tire of.
The MindWare Make Your Own Porcelain Bowls was partially one that I got for myself. I’ve been to those paint-your-own classes at studios but it costs an arm and a leg and what better way to paint than to share the experience with your children? I think it encourages them to see you painting something, hopefully beautiful (tee-hee), and really enjoying it. I let my younger two do this project, although it is also recommended for ages 8+, and they really got a kick out of it. After we let the paint dry and baked it to set the paint, I scribbled their names and the year on the bottom of each bowl. We all know that when you’re an adult, you love to look back and see what kind of adorable things you came up with when you were young. I especially have some really interesting artwork from my childhood!
MindWare seems to have some really fantastic, unique, and very family-friendly craft activity sets for children and I will definitely be buying more in the near future. I haven’t decided if they will be Christmas gifts or a special addition to our family craft times, but they’re most certainly going to be a necessity around here. Mommy says A+ and the kids say two thumbs way up!
Buy:
You can purchase MindWare activity sets on MindWare.com, and don’t forget to use the special code EIGHTYMPHMOM for a 15% discount on your entire order until August 21st!
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How would you like to win one of these awesome crafts for your children (or you, hey, I’m not judging..)?!
THE GIVEAWAY:
One (1) winner will receive their choose of either the MindWare Make Your Own Porcelain Bowls OR Make Your Own Snow Globes.
Open to US only. Ends 8/11.
*No purchase necessary. Open to residents of US only. Giveaway ends August 11, 2015 at 11:59 p.m. (EST). ONE ENTRANT PER HOUSEHOLD/IP Address! I check all entries – cheating will not be tolerated. Winner will be notified via email and needs to reply within 48 hours, or a new winner will be chosen. Please make sure you check your spam folder – I will not be responsible if you did not receive winning email notification. Winners name(s) will be displayed on the post, and will also be posted on Winners List shortly after drawing has occurred. Winners will be chosen randomly by Giveaway Tools. Screenshots of winners available by request. Prize will be shipped directly from sponsor or their PR Agency unless otherwise noted. Eighty MPH Mom is not responsible for prizes lost in transit, although every attempt will be made for prize delivery. **By entering this giveaway, you confirm that you have read and agree to the Eighty MPH Mom giveaway rules. Sponsor reserves the right to limit one prize per person/household (of this item/prize pack). Please allow 6-8 weeks for deliver of prize {though it is usually much sooner}. This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Facebook. We hereby release Facebook of any liability. Odds of winning: The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. All prizes will be awarded. Void where prohibited by law. *Tiffany received the above product(s), free of charge, to facilitate this review. All opinions are those of reviewer only.
69 Responses
the string art kit looks awesome
(direct link goes to a bad page).
But I did find Q-BA-MAZE Ultimate Stunt Set. Holy cow! That looks like one cool set. I don’t know if I’d have the patience to put it all together, but it looks like a great set for the budding engineer.
I really like the string art kit, great!
My son would love the laser maze
String Art Kit
my kids would love to try the 4-in-1 Cool Tool Workshop
Visited and I like Pixel Loom Create Your Own Jewelry Art!
Mega Marble Run
I like the Make Clay Charms
I know my niece would love their Pop-Arty Beads!
cooking in a cup we love to cook
My favorite is the Paper X.
Color counts sounds like something I would enjoy doing with my Grand-daughter.
I also like the Mystery Mosaics Set of 4 with free markers.
thank you
I like the plushcraft pillow activities.
I want the 4 n 1 cool tool workshop
The Spirograph Deluxe Kit looks awesome. I used to love Spirograph when I was a kid!
The Spirograph Deluxe Kit would be a lot of fun. I remember them as a kid myself!
What is there not to love? I think my daughter would love anything from there, that being said she has been nagging me for some moon sand so the no mess indoor sandbox and refill would be perfect!
I love the Pop-Arty Beads!!
I like the Celtic Coloring Books: Set of 4. Thanks.
partymix25(at)Hotmail(dot)com
i like the loom set and the boogie board. there are a lot of awesome choices. mindware has such good quality, too.
Would love to try the Pottery Wheel and Air-Dry Clay Refill: Set of 2. It looks like so much fun!
Keva contraptions.
The sting art kit
My boys would love the Keva contraptions kit.
the make your own dog treats!
my granddaughter would love the Fashion Design Studio
Mega Marble Run
the string art kit looks great
Unbored Disguise kit
They have a ton of great stuff! I’d love to get the Spot It! Alphabet set for my LO!
My daughter would enjoy the string art.
Spirograph Deluxe Kit
I like the Mega Marble Run
I like the Gumball Machine Pillow Kit and the Make-and-Take Travel Buddies Sewing Kit.
Rainbow Rug Hooking Kit
the Mega Marble Run
My kids would like the Marble Run: 103-Piece Set.
The Ultimate Craft Studio looks awesome! So many fun things!
I love the Pattern Play: Bright Colors kit!
Deluxe Magic Set
I like the string art. Thank you for the entry.
the string art kit would be fun
The “Unbored” kits look like a lot of fun.
The Beginner’s Sewing Machine could be fun.
We would like the Playful Chef Cookbook
pattifritz2000 at yahoo dot com
I love that they have the Spirograph Deluxe Kit. So much fun with my grandson! 🙂
There are several good options for a 7 yr old, but I know he would be fascinated by the Butterfly Pavilion.
I love the Super Spin Disc Swing
I also like the q-bitz game
I like the string art kit.
I think the Mosaic MagnaPictures looks interesting.
The string art is fun.
Q-BA-MAZE 2.0: Mega Stunt Set looks awesome.
I love the Mega Marble run. Thank you for the chance.
I think my grandchild would also enjoy the Pop-Arty Beads.
The Rainbow Rug Hooking Kit really interests me.
I like the Music Box Record Player. My nephew would love that!
I like the plush craft pillow kits.
I would like to have the Mystery Mosaics: Set of 4 with FREE Markers for my Granddaughter.
The Rainbow Art Pillow Kit looks like something my granddaughters would love to have. They could make their own pillows and then use them when watching tv.
I love MindWare. I stock up whenever I get a few extra $$. My kids love it!
The string art kit is just what my kids need.
I like the Spirograph Deluxe Kit.
I like the String Art Kit
Mystery Mosaics Set of 4 with free markers.
Intelliglobe !!!
I really like the Extreme Dot to Dots. My daughter really likes to challenge herself and enjoys counting, so this is right up her alley. Also, we like to complete dot to dots together and color them in. I think this would be quite fun for us. I have never seen these before…