Review: Eco Craft Book worth £12.99
Review by VIP Club Member Lauren Cowley (with the help of Alessio Aged 4)
The Eco Craft Book has a very engaging cover and shows the crafts you can make from inside the book. There are around 31 crafts to choose from. It does say in the front of the book to give yourself time to start saving up ‘junk’. I did find we didn’t have items to make some of the crafts in the book so chose two crafts from the materials we had. We made cardboard tube planters for our sunflower seeds and we made an Animal Money Box. The cardboard planters were very quick and easy to make and engaged Alessio well as he enjoyed putting the soil in the planter and sowing his seeds and then watering them. With the Animal Money Box Alessio lost interest and it became a heavily adult influenced craft. To make most of the crafts I didn’t have the items round the house and did have to purchase some PVA glue and Water-based paints for the money box. I like the idea of the book recycling items round the home instead of throwing them away and had Alessio been a bit older he may have been able to be more independent in making some of the crafts. I would definitely in the future save up recycling items to be able to make some more of the crafts. I also like how in between the craft ideas the book tells you the tools / materials you will need and alternatives for items you may already use at home i.e sellotape replacing with eco friendly paper alternatives and how to make glitter biodegradable. At the start of the book it also tells you which items to save up. There is also a page in the book which educates you on why recycling – reusing matters which is great for adults to learn and to teach children. There is also a section in the book which tells you what you can do to protect the environment and a section on having fun in the wild for example nature treasure hunts.
Although the book has some great ideas, I feel that the book would be more suited to children slightly older. Alessio did enjoy the outcome of the Animal Money Box once mummy had done all the hard work.