Best Children's Needlecrafts & Textile Crafts Books
In this book by well-known modern quilters Weeks Ringle and Bill Kerr along with their 11-year-old daughter Sophie Kerr, kids will learn how to navigate a sewing machine, make smart fabric choices, and use basic sewing tools. What quilter doesn’t have a secret wish for their daughter, son or grandchild to carry on the quilting tradition. This book comes from the new imprint of C&T Publishing, FunStitch Studio, and is designed to get young people interested and involved in sewing and home crafts. Sixteen fun projects at levels from beginner to advanced await the adventurous young person with an interest in sewing in this colorful and educational resource. Learn about fabrics, supplies, machines and the basics of sewing while creating projects that will be admired, used and worn. In this debut book written when she was 11, Sophie―daughter of Weeks Ringle and Bill Kerr of Modern Quilt Studio - guides her young counterparts through the process of sewing. She doesn't make them so complicated," she says.As parents, we like that many of the projects, such as the Zippered Tote and Insulated Lunch Bag, are practical for kids. Sophie obviously knows that boys like to sew too, and she's got plenty of guys pictured throughout the book, making things like belts and bags that can be enjoyed by ever kid. Lastly, her careful illustrations and picture really do make simple work out of sometimes intimidating tasks, such as installing a zipper. With 35 pages of valuable troubleshooting and safety tips, and 16 projects, including a lunch tote and messenger bag, your kids will be clamoring to go to the nearest fabric store. Eleven-year-old Sophie Kerr and her professional quiltmaker parents bring a stress-free and fresh approach to sewing for kids, making this a great reference book for young sewists. The bright photography of Sophie and her friends (male and female) sewing and using their projects is fun and engaging.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Lots of cute projects for my grand daughter to begin sewing."
"My granddaughters love this book!"
"Very kid friendly, especially good instructions, well-chosen projects."
"Great little book for beginner sewing, with lots of simple projects."
"Awesome gift for your beginner."
"This book is fun, inspiring, and offers a great start for a beginner."
And for those who are serious about style, Fashion Design Workshop includes a glossary of fashion terms and a collection of model templates so readers can develop their own line of clothing! Painter, illustrator, and graphic designer Stephanie Corfee is the author of three books on art and illustration, all published by Walter Foster: Fashion Design Workshop (7/11), Creative Doodling & Beyond (12/11), and Creative Illustration & Beyond (11/13).
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Bought for my 7 year old and she loves it."
"Good gift for a preteen who likes to design and is interested in fashion."
"Love it extremely!"
"Granddaughter's birthday gift--a huge success!"
"This book is a wonderful guide for beginner costume sketchers!"
"Just what I wanted and expected."
"Perfect gift for my 11 year old niece who loves to draw and fashion design."
From woven patches and a knitted backpack to embroidered merit badges and a crocheted bracelet, the fresh, kid-approved projects encourage creative variations and build confidence along with valuable life skills. “Teach your kids and tweens how to sew, knit, crochet, felt, embroider, and weave with the new book Stitch Camp by Nicole Blum and Catherine Newman. Grab some yarn, and craft away!” — FamilyFun “Using mostly inexpensive materials and recyclables, this colorful and well-formatted craft book introduces the basic skills of sewing, embroidery, felting, knitting, crocheting, and weaving in a peppy conversational style.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I purchased this craft book as much for me as for my grand daughters."
"I purchased this book to help ME learn how to teach my art students how to sew."
"So many cute and creative ides!"
"Granddaughter has already made several projects and has more planned."
"I have a collection of craft books in our home because my middle daughter loves to make a wide assortment of crafts. But, I have never seen her as excited about any book in this collection as she is about the newest addition to that collection... Stitch Camp: 18 Crafty Projects for Kids & Tweens by Nicole Blum and Catherine Newman. This book tackles the most popular fiber arts: sewing, knitting, crochet, felting, embroidering, and weaving. A week after the book's arrival, a good friend of mine was visiting (who Sami wanted to share the book with) who gave this book a raving review as well. She wished for the book herself as an adult even though she already knows how to do each of the types of crafts included in this book. Please note that I received a complimentary copy of this book for review from Storey Books, but that these opinions are my own."
Best Children's Fashion Books
Kids can sew too! Best of all, this practical, attractive sewing book features finished projects that look like they were actually made by children.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Unfortunately, so much of the sewing kits, books, and supplies are geared towards girls. Not only is it full of beautiful photographs that help teach sewing steps, I was pleased to see how many boys were included in the photographs--sewing just like their female counterparts."
"My 7 year old daughter loves this book."
"My daughter loves it and is always planning new projects to make."
"Such a lovely book!"
"Some fun ideas."
"Nice book but grand didn't really use it much."
"good instructions for beginner sewer."
"The pictures and instructions are perfect for a tween girl to follow."
Best Needlework
Whether you're a new crocheter or just want to try new techniques, this must-have resource offers all the know-how you'll ever need.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"What this does instead is show you how to do a ton of stitches whether you know the basics or are just picking up crochet for the first time. What about just wanting to know how to pick the right yarn and hooks? If you're brand new to crochet, the first couple chapters are all about crochet hooks sizes, yarn styles and sizes, gauge of crochet, how to hold the yarn, and the basic beginner steps to crochet such as how to start, chain stitch, slip stitch, tying off. If you already know how and just want to expand your repertoire then there are dozens upon dozens of stitches, tricks, techniques, and styles to increase your knowledge."
"I could remember making it as a young mother but couldn't remember how other than I needed a crochet hook and a VERY large "broomstick" (or in today's world - a large knitting needle). Anyway, the book contains information on types of yarns, hooks, gauge, how to read patterns and charts and other equipment you might need. One last feature of the book is that the front and back covers each have a "bookmark" flap which is very useful when you can finish a project in one sitting."
"I ordered this books so my daughter and I could learn crocheting together."
"Great information."
"Easy to read."
"Gift for son."
"Sooooo glad I got this book!"
Best Children's Papercrafts Books
Kids love origami—and what could be cooler than transforming a piece of paper into Boba Fett, Princess Leia, Yoda, or R2-D2? Star Wars Origami includes a foreword by Tom Angleberger, author of the New York Times bestsellers The Strange Case of Origami Yoda and Darth Paper Strikes Back , and is scheduled to be published at the same time as Angleberger’s upcoming book, The Secret of the Fortune Wookiee . A Look Inside Star Wars Origami.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"It will be a great use of time if you like Star Wars as my son does!"
"It was a Christmas gift."
"Lots of fun!"
"Great price for this oragami book!"
"My grandson loves it."
"This book is huge, and has several origami designs within."
"My kids absolutely love this product!"
"Would've given a better rating if it had came with a set of folding papers."
Best Children's Clay Craft Books
Clay Lab for Kids features 52 hands-on projects made with clay, all of which get kids working creatively, and thinking three dimensionally.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"With budgets getting smaller and smaller, this has some cost cutting ways to do a clay projects with the kids on a dime if only I were that lucky more like a penny these days."
"This book has a lot of great ideas."
"This book is an excellent resource for educators, parents, camp directors or anyone working with children."
"Easily accessible materials and creative ideas to get kids excited about sculpture!"
"This book, along with a package of polymer clay would make a great gift."
"A must-have book for Art Teachers who love to teach 3-D!"
"I've known Cassie for many years and this book is just a sample of her awesomeness and creativity."
"Like getting new ideas."
Best Children's Beadwork, Fashion & Jewelry Craft Books
Kids can sew too! Best of all, this practical, attractive sewing book features finished projects that look like they were actually made by children.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Unfortunately, so much of the sewing kits, books, and supplies are geared towards girls. Not only is it full of beautiful photographs that help teach sewing steps, I was pleased to see how many boys were included in the photographs--sewing just like their female counterparts."
"My 7 year old daughter loves this book."
"My daughter loves it and is always planning new projects to make."
"We can work on sewing projects together and the projects are easy enough for her to understand!"
"Grandaughter likes to sew things and this helped her make some projects."
"Such a lovely book!"
"Nice book but grand didn't really use it much."
"Fun projects."
Best Children's Antique & Collectible Books
LEGO Chain Reactions is packed full of ideas, instructions, and inspiration for 10 LEGO machines that spin, swing, pivot, roll, lift, and drop. Our team of experts worked with educators and 11-year-olds to invent the machines, then wrote a book that teaches the skills (and some of the physics behind the fun) kids need to create their own amazing chain reaction machines. Includes a 80 page instructional book with Klutz certified crystal-clear instructions.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"A lot of thought and effort went into the chain reaction concepts and resulting projects. The chain reaction projects aren't that at all. They are challenging in my view mostly because of the need for precision alignment between the paper parts and the Lego motion actuators the kids assemble to create the Chain the Reaction. The greatest joy my grandson experienced (and it was great joy) was the moment the first project functioned properly for the first time after several complete and partial failures (just as his patience was wearing thin) and then joy again once the chain reaction was rehearsed and easily repeatable so as to show his parents without failure. In summary, it appears that, assuming success along the way, the complicated chain reactions are fun for children to assemble, challenging to make fully, reliably functional and thrilling once they work for that first time."
"The Lego pieces supplied are mainly specialty pieces, to complete the machines. so your choices are - (a) buy the book, if you know the recipient has an extensive supply of excess Lego (b) buy the book, and the additional Lego you need (c) buy the book and get creative around what you can substitute for the additional required pieces - (book stacks are suggested in place of the towers, but I think would be unstable and difficult to get the components to align sufficiently for the machine to work)."
"Wow!"
"The second project requires 4 2x1 bricks, 10 3x1 bricks, 6 4x1 bricks "from your collection"."
Best Children's Model Building Books
LEGO Chain Reactions is packed full of ideas, instructions, and inspiration for 10 LEGO machines that spin, swing, pivot, roll, lift, and drop. Our team of experts worked with educators and 11-year-olds to invent the machines, then wrote a book that teaches the skills (and some of the physics behind the fun) kids need to create their own amazing chain reaction machines. Includes a 80 page instructional book with Klutz certified crystal-clear instructions.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"A lot of thought and effort went into the chain reaction concepts and resulting projects. The chain reaction projects aren't that at all. They are challenging in my view mostly because of the need for precision alignment between the paper parts and the Lego motion actuators the kids assemble to create the Chain the Reaction. The greatest joy my grandson experienced (and it was great joy) was the moment the first project functioned properly for the first time after several complete and partial failures (just as his patience was wearing thin) and then joy again once the chain reaction was rehearsed and easily repeatable so as to show his parents without failure. In summary, it appears that, assuming success along the way, the complicated chain reactions are fun for children to assemble, challenging to make fully, reliably functional and thrilling once they work for that first time."
"The Lego pieces supplied are mainly specialty pieces, to complete the machines. so your choices are - (a) buy the book, if you know the recipient has an extensive supply of excess Lego (b) buy the book, and the additional Lego you need (c) buy the book and get creative around what you can substitute for the additional required pieces - (book stacks are suggested in place of the towers, but I think would be unstable and difficult to get the components to align sufficiently for the machine to work)."
"Wow!"
"The second project requires 4 2x1 bricks, 10 3x1 bricks, 6 4x1 bricks "from your collection"."
Best Children's Woodworking Books
So now it’s even easier and more fun for kids to handmake a bench for their own workshop, create a DVD storage cube that spins, build a doggie diner, or craft adjustable stilts, a box with a secret drawer, and many other long-lasting items. Praise for the first edition:
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"The projects include: A workbench (4'x2' and 30" tall), miter box, tool box, compass tool, bench hook, assorted bird houses, a squirrel feeder, standing cat scratching post, dog house for a small dog, critter observation station, bike stand, 2 toy boats, rope ladder (like the kind you would use for a tree house), a scooter, 8' balance beam, baseball shelf (holds bat, glove and balls), curio-type shelf, jewelry tree, desktop organizer, study partner (holds your book open), table top easel, a heart box (the heart is added as a sort of handle, could cut a different shape, the box is like a shoebox), place card holders, key rack (holds keys), media tower for dvds or cds, travel checkers, airplane, drum, and a tesselation bird puzzle."
"Nice book and has easy projects for kids."
"This is a wonderful book to teach basic woodworking skills to kids and others who needs basic knowledge."
"Wonderful book with projects for all ages on many different levels of complexity."
"My husband teaches woodshop and likes the tips for his class."
"At first my 9 year old just looked at it."
"Grandson was excited about receiving this for Christmas."
"Grandson received for 2011 Christmas and has used for multiple of the projects, making presents for family members and friends."