I was sent these books to review, but the opinions are 100% my own!
It is so exciting to me when bloggers publish craft books! I love seeing their hard work and creative ideas turn into something more people have access to. Plus, who doesn’t like to see their friends’ faces staring out from the book aisle? More than once I have held up a book and said, “I know her!” to no one in particular.
Fellow blogger (and friend) Amanda from Fun Family Crafts and Crafts By Amanda has recently published TWO new craft books aimed at kids, tweens, and tweens. If you ask me, there are plenty of projects in Duct Tape Mania and Rubber Band Mania that are fun for the not-so-young, like yours truly, to enjoy as well. Since books are targeted for kids, I decided to crack one open with my almost 7 year old son.
MY LATEST VIDEOSLet me tell you, these books saved my heiney. My kids had a 5 day weekend off of school (I know…) and my son was already proclaiming how bored he was before he had even gotten out of bed on the first morning. Amanda’s books kept him busy through the weekend, creating away in the dining room!
As soon as I slid the brightly covered book at him, he tore into it. He’s an advanced reader (brag brag) but he was able to read through almost all of the book’s instructions with little help. He especially liked the Fun Facts and Tacky Tips scattered throughout the book.
For his first project out of the book, he chose to make his own zippered pencil pouch, which is one of the simpler projects in the book. Each project is given a colored smiley face difficulty rating.
I helped with the ripping and cutting of the duct tape, but I was pretty impressed at how well he followed the directions. The fact that the directions are clearly and simply written and that they are accompanied by color images of the some of the steps is so helpful for kids.
He was more than a little pleased with himself for completing his first duct tape craft. I think his friends are going to be receiving their own versions of this project before too long.
Rubber Band Mania is similar in format to Duct Tape Mania, but all the projects focus on the rubber bands that kids are crazy for now! You will find projects for simple bracelets to marshmallow catapults to rubber band guitars!
I really do think these books are a wonderful way to get kids creating. Craft and art projects teach children any number of valuable skills: from problem solving to fine motor skills. Plus, my son got a good lesson in technical reading from the step out directions while he was having fun. Technical writing is often dry and boring, so this is a fantastic way to work on that important life skill without turning them off to tech reading entirely.
You can find Duct Tape Mania and Rubber Band Mania (affliate links) on Amazon or look for it at Target!
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Thanks, Jessica
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[…] Duck Tape Mania – Amanda Formaro (Crafts By Amanda) is sort of a craft blogging superwoman. She has several blogs, a huge social media following, and she still manages to be incredibly generous with other bloggers. I was so happy when her “Mania” series of books was released, and they are really fantastic books. My kids adore all of them. You can read more about my experiences with this book HERE. […]
Thank you so much for the awesome review Jessica! I LOVE that your son made that pencil pouch (it’s actually one of my favorites) and was able to easily follow the instructions. Hooray! Thanks again, loved the review!