Best Craft Kits for Kids

There aren't many things more rewarding than making something with your own two hands. With creativity, some supplies and a set of directions, you can transform a pile of materials in to a beautiful bracelet, a clay pot or another artistic collectible. Each child has his own set of interests, so how do you know which craft kit will best suit him? This guide is designed to point you toward the right kit for your kid, based on his natural curiosity for a given area.

Craft Kits Kids Love:

1. Fashion/Clothing: If your child loves hats, scarves, accessories and shoes, you can help her feel like a fashion superstar with a clothing kit. Tie-dye kits make shirts more colorful, knitting and crocheting kits let you create your own scarves and hats, and fabric paint or jewel kit lets you decorate clothes and shoes you already have.

2. Jewelry: Instead of buying all of her jewelry, why not encourage your child to make it? She can make friendship bracelets, her own beads, necklaces and rings to wear or give to friends. If the child you're shopping for already makes a lot of jewelry, a beading kit can introduce new skills and challenges to an established hobby.

3. Drawing/Painting: If your child loves watercolors, oils and other paints, then choose a kit that comes with paintable objects. Kits can include everything from sun catchers to paint-by-number templates, even T-shirts and dishes. If your child likes drawing, coloring and scrapbooking, she'll have fun with a card-making kit or a book on illustrating cartoons. If producing useable pieces is more his thing, a kit that lets him embellish placemats for use at dinnertime is a good choice.

4. Model building: These kits are designed for kids who love the building process. Building kits can produce anything from a wooden dinosaur skeleton to a model car; advanced kits combine skills and might require painting or gluing as part of the process. Encourage your child to create a mobile for a younger sibling or a model car to take to a friend's house.

5. Pottery/Sculpture: Kids who love hands-on crafts will love a pottery wheel set or a pipe-cleaner kit. These kits sometimes involve more complicated setup; make sure they're used with supervision to prevent a mess. Introduce these kits to test out new interests without a big commitment and help your child discover a new hobby.

6. Educational: Help your kids learn something new while doing something fun. Use a model airplane kit as an excuse to talk about Bernoulli's principle or build a scale model of the solar system and explain why Pluto is no longer a planet.