One thing you don't want the kids to be doing during lockdown is to spend the entire day on their tablets. Easier said than done though, right?
The best craft kits are easy ways to entice the children to engage their brains in a different way and have fun at the same time.
Crafting can unleash children's creative sides, inspire imagination, and boost hand-eye co-ordination and cognitive processes.
From slime labs, Space mould and paint sets, and dinosaur painting kits to creating fairy gardens, jewellery products and completing arty masterpieces, there's a craft kit out there to keep everybody happy.
Ready to get crafting? We've rounded up some of the best craft kits to keep the children engaged and entertained (and buy yourself a little bit of me-time)... You can thank us later.
The best craft kits for kids
1. My Fairy Garden Fairy Garden
The kids will be in heaven as they get to create and watch their own magical fairy garden grow.
They can follow along with the 12-page activity guide to learn how to construct their enchanted miniature cottage and beautiful living garden. The kit contains everything you need to make your fairy feel at home - including grass seeds to grow the Fairy Garden - and they can just add imagination and a little sprinkling of the fairy dust included.
Hours of fun for any children that love fairies (so that's all of them, right?).
Price: £14.97, Amazon - buy here now
2. Paint Your Own Dinosaur Money Box
Kids love a money box, so creating your own? Even better. Let the little one's imagination run wild as the blank ceramic shape is transformed into an eye-catching masterpiece.
The set includes the mould, six paints and a paintbrush, and can be varnished to last longer.
Kids not dinosaur fans? There's plenty of shapes to choose from, including ducks, ships, footballs, robots, vans, unicorns, fairies, and even a princess carriage. Get the apron on and get painting!
Price: £4, Hobbycraft - buy here now
3. Kreative Kids Embroidery
This traditional cross stitch craft kit is a brilliantly fun introduction to the world of arts and crafts.
Six easy-to-follow patterns will see the kids creating pictures, including a dog, cat, flowers, butterfly, a heart and a whale. They can then proudly display their pieces on the mantelpiece or windowsill. Like painting by numbers with needle craft, it will keep them busy - and happy - for hours. Suitable for ages six and up.
Price: £9.49, Amazon - buy here now
4. John Lewis & Partners Make Your Own Finger Puppets
Perfect for the little ones (from around three years and up), these finger puppets are so much fun to make and then play with.
The cat, dog, cow, fox, lion and panda boost creativity and expression, inspire imaginative play and storytelling skills, and also provide linguistic stimulation. Lots of fun for everyone.
Price: £5, John Lewis - buy here now
5. Hama Beads (10,000) Tub
One for the kids - and the big kid in you. Everyone can get involved with Hama beads, and this pack of 10,000 offers endless opportunities for creating, whether you string, press or iron the beads.
There's five reusable peg boards - a butterfly, car, flower, mouse and seahorse - or you can create your own designs. This is literally hours of fun - away from those screens.
Price: £15, Amazon - buy here now
6. Galt Jewellery Craft
Making jewellery is so much fun, and this jewellery craft kid is an Amazon bestseller.
Not only can you create cool bracelets and necklaces, you can also decorate foam shapes with gems and glitter glue and then put them on earrings, rings and hair clips.
The pack includes 300 pony beads, assorted foam shapes and beads, stick-on gems, two pairs of clip-on earrings, two rings, two hair clips, silky cord, elastic, sticky foam pads, and glitter glue. Perfectly pretty.
Price: £10, Amazon - buy here now
7. Glow-in-the-Dark Mould & Paint Space
Get the kids to make their own fridge magnets and badges from scratch with this super-exciting set.
They get to mould as well as paint two rockets, an alien, a planet and an astronaut - perfect for little Space fans.
And, for extra fun, there's also glow-in-the-dark detail they can add on as well. Can we have a go, too?
Price: £11.50, Closs & Hamblin - buy here now
8. Galt Toys Slime Lab Kit
This one's a little messy but the children are sure to love it. Little scientists can get their white coats on to perform lab experiments with slime - what could be more fun?
The kit encourages early STEM learning as well as being joyful, and will see the kids making their own glow-in-the-dark slimy alien, a bouncy putty ball and a gummy bug.
There's a 16-page lab book with seven fun experiments, and the kit contains slime, a noise pot, glow bouncing putty, make your own slime and putty powder, make your own gummy bug powder, an alien and bug mould, wiggly eyes, stickers, a notepad and more. Time to get experimental!
Price: £9.99, Amazon - buy here now
9. FabLab Nail Art Kit
Let the kids pretty-up their tips with this ultra-fun nail kit.
There's a detailed activity guide showing you how to create six designs, and seven nail polishes as well as some heart-shaped sprinkles. What's more, if you head to interplayuk.com, you can download printable PDFs for more creative ideas. Crafting? Nailed.
Price: £14.98, Amazon - buy here now
10. DIY Oil Paint by Number Kit
This is one for older kids that you can also join in with. The beautiful painting-by-number set means everyone can be an artist and you get to create a lovely piece of artwork to put up at home.
The canvas arrives without the frame and has easy-to-follow instructions, paint brushes and paints so you and the children can channel your inner Monet.
