Carson Dellosa Complete Book of Arts and Crafts Workbook for Kids—Grades K-4 Painting, Sculpting, Music, Toys, Holiday, Drama, Paper Craft Activities (416 pgs)

Cute book but not for K - 4. This is better for Kindergarten. My kids did several of these arts and crafts in preschool. Most could also be found online for free. We will do a few of them but most of them my 7 and 8 yr old won't be interested in.

Lots of craft ideas with instructions but nothing to actually cut out. “Find a picture of a bear in a coloring book and cut it out” kind of stuff- why not just provide the picture? Would have been happier with fewer crafts and a few cut outs.

We use this book weekly, crafts are great and my 1st grader loves them.

Tao tally love this art workbook! Thanks for speedy delivery also. It came quicker than I had thought.

Absolutely love this book of arts and crafts. My 6 year old grand daughter was so intrigued she couldn't put it down. Just received it and have already completed two projects.

Good product

While it would appear that this is a book created for a classroom environment, many of the projects (such as tie-dye shirts and window painting) are, clearly, for use in the home as well as classroom. Many of the projects are such that a teacher can supervise a classroom full of children while they complete very simple projects, others can easily go wrong if they aren’t completed in a one-on-one environment. It is also somewhat ambitious to assume that the same thing that will interest a 5 year old will interest a 10 year old or that both are equal in their skills, attention span, and coordination.I received my copy in time for spring break, during which time I had my two grandchildren and a grand-niece (ages 9, 6, & 5) staying with me and we really couldn’t find much that they were interested in trying. I have to confess that these kids have taken part in summer art camps and art classes at their schools are fairly sophisticated. I think they found these projects somewhat patronizing. Besides, we often do crafty things together such as making barrettes, decorating cookies and cupcakes, rubber stamping, embossing, decorating Christmas balls, making yarn pom-poms, even entry-level needle point.Generally, I think that the book is ordered easiest first, progressing to more complex. None is especially original or inspiring. The only project I had not seen before and found educational as well as challenging, was the “reflecting pool” drawing which I thought looked like fun but couldn’t convince the kids to try. There are also plentiful examples of projects that require the use of scissors which, while not exciting, do teach a valuable skill.For the most part, only common and inexpensive supplies are required, which is a plus in a sense—especially in a school setting. But, in another sense, these supplies (things like empty toilet paper rolls, paper plates, drinking straws, soda bottles, tongue depressors, and so on) end up producing the type of project that goes on the refrigerator for a while, then disappears.

I'm always putting together ideas for our preschool arts and crafts lessons. Sometimes I need a little inspiration, so I go online to get some, but it always so time consuming. I love this Arts and Crafts book from Thinking Kids, because it actually eliminates the need to peruse Pinterest or other craft websites for weekly art project ideas. I was blown away after receiving it, because it's a rather large book with about 416 pages of inspiration for our arts and craft time. I am all about organization, so one of the things that I really love about this book is how it's divided into different types of projects. You have:--Paper Creations (great fine motor practice, since many of these involve a lot of cutting and gluing)--Painting Projects--Music Makers (great for combining music and art lessons together)--Sculpting & Such--Fun with Drama (great for combining drama and art lessons together)--Homemade Toys and Fun with Bubbles (fun crafts that are functional)--Mixed Materials (what I like to call a "think outside of the box" approach" with ideas on using random objects to complete a project)--Holiday Projects (we do a lot of holiday and seasonal themed crafts, so this is extra helpful to have)I like to switch things up in our homeschool, sometimes we'll paint, sometimes we'll use clay or Play Doh, and other times we'll create a holiday or seasonal themed craft. This book has plenty of ideas and inspiration for all of these themes and even more. Each idea begins with what you'll need to pick up in order to complete the project. I like to keep a good stock of materials in our art closet, so I was happy to see that there were plenty of projects we could get started on right away. The next page(s) offer step by step instructions that are really easy to follow. There's even fun cartoon illustrations to provide an idea on how the project may look (also inspiration for the kids).The beginning of the book offers encouragement and ways for parents and teachers to get their children (or class) excited about art. I like how there is emphasis on creating freedom of expression and how each moment is a learning experience, no matter how a project comes out. This is especially important for really young children who are just beginning to try their hand with arts and crafts. There's tips on how to improve a child's cutting skills, paint brush care, and ways to explore different colors. I especially appreciate that it also includes a mini-lesson on primary and secondary colors, as well as an introduction to the color wheel and what happens when you mix certain colors together. I just completed a unit study on color theory with my child, so this was a handy way to reinforce what we had just went over.I'm so happy to have picked this book up, because it is going to save me so much time in researching what art project to plan next. Everything is all laid out for me and there are tons of fun ideas. This will definitely keep us busy for quite a while!