Making Books with Kids is an engaging paper craft book, with an emphasis on making different kinds of books on our own. The book focuses on simple accordion-style books, that would be easy for children to make, and there are also a few sewn binding books as well. The many activities include papers and directions for pop-ups, and some really nice skyline type designs for accordion books, which are me and my daughters’ favorites.

Now, we each have a few skylines, rolling hills, or under the sea adventures on our dressing tables. We’re going to try some fabric books next. This is a really fun book which shows how to make delightful books on our own, and would be a great gift for anyone who enjoys books and loves paper crafts.

Geometric Origami Kit is a beautiful set with an instruction book and many pieces of strikingly designed origami papers. Each paper has a fine, repeating geometric design, in a wide variety of styles and palettes — yet each is really beautiful, and the backs feature a kind of metallic silver solid, so the papers, though different, are complementary with one another. They’re honestly very impressive. The booklet’s instructions show how to make stars, pyramids, and other related shapes, in a variety of complex styles.

Many require multiple papers to complete. The instructions are the clearest I’ve seen for origami, and each step includes a clear diagram as well, which often explain the intent, as well as what you actually do. Although I found some of the designs fairly complex to complete to my satisfaction, the results are stunning, and I’m proudly displaying them on my desks at work and at home.

My kids are thrilled with Chalk on the Wild Side. I didn’t realize there were so many fun crafts and different types of chalks we could all make and do and enjoy at home. I was surprised how effective the tips are, like drawing with wet chalk for a different visual effect. The different types of chalk we’ve made, like volcano chalk, were easy to do and the kids really had fun making them. We’ve been planning what projects we’ll do this summer — ice pop chalk is number one on their lists. Lots of fun activities for our whole family to make, create with, and enjoy.