Mon Petit Art Oh C'est Beau!
Today's children are as creative as ever, and the growing demand for crafting workshops of all sorts means that manufacturers are branching out into a fastgrowing area with all-inclusive, ready-to-retail kits that promote manual as well as mental activities. These offer a focused, structured activity to parents and children who are keen for creative guidance, with quality end products justifying higher price points. Materials are pre-cut, punched and perforated for convenience, and tools are adapted to health and safety regulations. Mon Petit Art Sustainability and technology strongly influence this market, as children from an increasingly young age are connected to today's realities. They were born in a world where recycling and digital appliances were already part of everyday life. Packaged in mini suitcases, bags and boxes, kits position themselves firmly in the gift market. But despite a shift towards more gender neutrality in the toy market, they are still very much divided in terms of "crafts for boys" and "crafts for girls". Eat Sleep Doodle Ann Williams
Drawing influence from craft cafes, complete project kits are hugely appealing to parents and children who are looking for a structured activity to do at home. Beyond the actual manual activity, the added value of these products lies in the construction of appealing end products such as a toys, clothes, and home or fashion accessories. Seedling Noted 4M The Makery Faber-Castell John Lewis The Makery 4M
Crafting is the perfect activity to develop a child s fine motor skills. To encourage kids to craft alone, brands precut and perforate materials that are easy to manipulate and require neither edging nor finishing, such as felt, fleece, neoprene, card, and paper. Stickers, sticky-pads, and duct and paper tapes are used as an easy way to decorate projects. Faber-Castell Oh C'est Beau! Conscious Craft Ann Williams Alex Brands Button Bag Baker Ross Egmont
The timeless appeal of a colour-in picture is being applied to a variety of objects, including homewares, toys, clothing, and accessories. Retailed with ultra washable pens or wipe-clean surfaces, these colour-in projects can be enjoyed time and time again. OMY OMY Super Petit Eat Sleep Doodle Eat Sleep Doodle Alex Brands Mitik Eat Sleep Doodle
Traditional, timeless crafts such as knitting, crochet, stitching, paper quilling, origami, and weaving are adapted and simplified for little hands. These traditional techniques appeal to parents and carers who may want to craft alongside their children, and the kits provide the consumer with everything they need to get started. Button Bag 4M Conscious Craft Harrisville Designs Seedling Dotcomgiftshop Ann Williams Wilko
The current interiors trend for 1970s crafts, from tie-dye to macramé, as well as for 1970s accessories, from terrariums and wind chimes to dream catchers, is reflected in the children s activity market. Shell art, pet rocks, and stained-glass window hangers are amongst popular DIY products for kids aged 5 to 15. Wilko Ann Williams Seedling Ann Williams Melissa & Doug 4M Ann Williams 4M
As adult minds grow more aware of ecological concerns, so do those of the younger generations, and junk modelling and recycling offer children a greener approach to crafting. Kits aim at transforming household junk such as magazines, newspapers, cereal boxes, plastic bottles, juice cartons, and cardboard tubes into new toys or decor. Alex Brands Farrel & Gold NPW Donkey Products Marks & Spencer 4M
With many completed craft projects taking pride of place in the home, it makes sense for manufacturers to appeal to the grown-up tastes of design-savvy parents, and for brands to team up with established artists and creatives for new ideas. Walter Ruffler, a designer of automata, released a range of mechanical paper kits for Noted, while award-winning illustrator Alice Melvin designed a range of craft kits for the Tate. Design bookshop Magma partnered with Laurence King, specialist publisher for the creative arts, to produce a set of DIY boardgames which children can colour, construct and customise as they please. Keith Haring collaborates with several brands too. Magma for Laurence King Alice Melvin Noted OMY Alice Melvin
Traditional projects are paired with technology to help tech-loving kids understand the way things work today. French company Litogami created kits to construct solar-powered toy cars and night lights. These are made from recycled cardboard and come precut and pre-folded for easy construction. In England, Technology Will Save Us produces kits intended to help children as young as 4 to code and invent, learning about science and technology without the use of screens. Faber-Castell also launched a range of Creativity Cans that contain craft materials to fit a theme, but no instructions, encouraging kids to problem-solve and use their imagination to craft their own creations. Technology Will Save Us 4M Faber-Castell Litogami Koa Koa Koa Koa
Despite the current trend towards gender neutrality in the toys market, crafting kits stick very much to gender stereotypes. Those aimed at the girls' market are themed around dolls, hearts, flowers, cupcakes, jewellery, butterflies, fairies, and for older girls, fashion. Djeco Seedling Pom Pom Wow Seedling Alex Brands Orb Factory NPW NPW
To tackle the historical perception that craft is more suited to girls, manufacturers are aiming kits specifically at the boys' market with themes such as graffiti, sports, cars, robots, and superheroes. Dinosaurs are also key for younger kids. Packaging reinforces the product s intended target market with "guy" or "boy" labels and stereotypical blue graphics. Sento Sphere Melissa & Doug Alex Brands Alex Brands Djeco Sento Sphere Button Bag 4M
Manufacturers are offering complete craft kits packaged in miniature suitcases, tins, bags or gift boxes. This positions the craft product firmly in the gift market, while also offering a neat storage solution. The Little Experience Egmont Button Bag John Lewis Apples to Pears NPW
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