the craft kit that fits in a shoebox
everything you need for paper crafts with kids. it's less than you think, and none of it is glitter.
- ages
- for the grown-up
- time
- 10 minutes to set up, once
- mess level
- barely any
- you need
- one empty shoebox
at a glance
the rule of the shoebox
If setting up takes longer than the craft, nobody does crafts. So everything lives in one box. Lid off, scissors out, you're crafting in thirty seconds.
what goes in
- paper. plain A4 copy paper works for every craft I make. thicker paper (160–200 g) makes sturdier crafts and mechanisms that last longer. no thick paper? print on plain, then glue it onto an old cereal box before cutting.
- scissors, two pairs. child scissors with rounded tips for them, a sharp pair for you. the grown-up pair is for slits and anything fiddly.
- a glue stick. with the lid. the lid will be gone within a week, so buy two.
- split pins. the little metal fasteners with two legs. they make wheels turn and layers swing open. a pack costs about €2 and lasts for years.
- sticky tape. for fixing a slit that tore. it will happen.
- a pencil. for writing names on the back, so the twins don't argue about whose worm is whose.
- yarn or string. only for a few crafts, like a spider web. any leftover will do.
what you don't need
A laminator. A cutting machine. A craft room. Forty colours of card. If a craft needs a shopping trip first, it's not a quick craft.
the print setting that saves a page
When you print a PDF, choose actual size (or 100%), not "fit to page". Fit to page shrinks everything a little, and suddenly the worm is too fat for his slit.
a safe way to make a hole for a split pin
Put a ball of play dough or poster putty under the paper and push a pencil through the dot. No scissor points, no stabbing towards a hand. This one's a grown-up job for the under-fives.
that's the whole kit
Now you need something to make with it.
that's it. go find the scissors.
send this to a parent who needs a quiet afternoon