Ever have those weeks where you plan to do a bunch of fun crafts with your child but by the time you know it, it’s the weekend and you haven’t sat down for “art” time with your child even once? I know that feeling all too well. I pin lots of fun crafts on Pinterest, I find a lot of cute ideas on other blogs, but when it comes time to preparing the craft it just doesn’t always happen. This is why, when I heard about Shirley’s Prepackaged Crafts, I knew I had to check it out!

I was sent October’s box. I opened it to find 14 different craft projects for the month. At first it just looked like a bunch of coloring pages but on further investigation I saw that it was a lot more than that. Each project consisted of multiple pages where the child colored, cut, glued, or taped things. Along with each activity is a bonus to help the project be more than just a “craft”. Some had conversation starters, some a website to check out for more information, or questions to ask your child. Shirley focuses on a color and a shape for the month and you see that throughout the activities planned.

Since today was Columbus Day, Jacob put together the Columbus Day project. In the box there was a piece of paper with the ship on it, a piece with the sails, and a half sheet of blue water with a wavy line for cutting practice which was the water. There were also craft sticks in the box. I provided the glue, markers, and scissors. I believe in letting children do as much of the projects by themselves as they can. The only thing I helped Jacob with for this one was holding the piece of paper he was cutting because he is still learning to cut. If your child is still too young for scissors you could cut the pieces out for them.

Here is Jacob’s Columbus Day project that took me only one minute to prepare (had to get items out of the box and grab my supplies:

Columbus Day craft

Shirley also includes a parent pack with a letter to parents, craft instructions, a suggested reading list, and snack ideas for the month. A monthly calendar is included as well which is a great visual learning tool for children. To encourage parents to support their children’s self-esteem she also includes a certificate of achievement. This month’s says “Way To Go” and has spaces for the parent to fill in something great their child did. Children also work on a book throughout the year and each month has a couple pages sent to complete so by the end of the year they have a book on whatever the topic is.

I also really like that there are Faith based aspects to some of these projects. {It’s easy to skip these additional projects if you do not want to do them with your child}.

Overall, I really like the concept behind these boxes. When I first saw the price I thought it was a little steep but in the end I think they are a good value considering all the time a parent will save searching for the projects and preparing a month’s worth of projects. If you would like to try Shirley’s Prepackaged Crafts out you can use coupon code MTFM to save $2 on your first order!

GIVEAWAY

One reader will win the December Monthly craft box

HOW TO ENTER

(Do any or all of the following, leave a comment for each)

1. Subscribe to this blog via RSS or email

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10. Tweet “Enter to win a monthly prepackaged craft box at www.makingtimeformommy.com”

Giveaway ends on November 10, 2011 at 11:59pm Central time. US only.

(Disclosure: I received a craft box to review but all thoughts are my own.)