Craft Stick Creations Catapult | Source: hand2mind

Arts and crafts time is getting a rainbow upgrade. 

Craft Stick Creations from hand2mind is a simple crafting set that kids can use to create, experiment, and learn basic STEM concepts. 

This crafty DIY set challenges kids to create 10 different projects using wooden craft sticks in natural and rainbow colors. Kids can make a catapult, a craft stick explosion, a Ferris wheel, and more. The kit comes with lots of creative materials, including 150 craft sticks, four rubber bands, a large craft cork, two foam discs, five wooden dowels, a foam ball, and seven marbles. Kids will still need to add in some of their own household items, such as glue, tape, and odds and ends like water bottle caps, but this makes the creative process even more fun. 

Craft Stick Creations contents| Source: hand2mind

On top of the box full of materials, kids will find a step-by-step guide that walks them through each of the 10 projects, complete with awesome images to help visual learners. Since this kit is designed for kids ages 8 and up, reading is a must, unless adults are helping with the fun. Whether they want to start with a simple project like the catapult, or something more complicated like the foosball game, there are certainly challenges suited for kids at different levels. Plus, every single project includes a “think bigger” challenge that requires kids to use their noggins to achieve bigger goals. And, even after kids get through the first 10 projects, there are more ideas hiding inside the activity book.

Related: The 30 Best Toys, Games, and Gifts for 8-Year-Olds this Holiday Season

Craft Stick Creations guidebook | Source: hand2mind

This kit is perfect for stealth learning. Kids will feel like they are simply creating awesome projects that really work, but in reality, they are honing in on those science, technology, engineering, and math skills. Not only will they be proud to show off and play with the finished results, but they will keep busy for hours executing each project. From the educational value Craft Stick Creations provides to the creative play it fosters, it’s a win for grade-schoolers and tweens. 

About the author

Marissa Silva

Marissa Silva

Marissa Silva is editor-in-chief of the Pop Insider and the Toy Insider, the leading consumer holiday gift guide and toy review and news website. As a professional toy reviewer and an industry expert, she consistently reports on toy, entertainment, and pop culture trends and hot products. In addition to digital content management, Marissa contributes feature-length articles to the Pop Insider and leading toy industry trade magazine The Toy Book, providing retailers, manufacturers, and licensors with information on the latest in toy news. Marissa has been featured on the TODAY Show, Good Morning America, Fox and Friends, ABC World News Now, MSNBC, CBS, NY1, WPIX, and more. A board game fanatic and professional toy reviewer, she spends most of her free time shopping for superhero T-shirts, crushing at Mario Kart, and anxiously awaiting her Hogwarts acceptance letter. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram @thattoygirl.

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