I am a grown woman with two young children, and when they go to sleep, the first thing I want to do is make a drink, put a TV show on in the background, and get into a kids’ crafting kit.
I find the clear directions and guaranteed success of kids’ crafting kits deeply satisfying — in contrast to the chaos of my regular life. But not just any kids’ crafting kit will do. I want to make something that’s display worthy or edible. Since I don’t like visual clutter in our home, the final product must be reasonably small or nice enough to give away. (I don’t need more crap in the recesses of my poorly organized closets.) The project also needs to have a satisfying rate of progression. This means it can be done in one to five evenings. (I only need one 12-year-old unfinished quilt in those aforementioned closets.) Everything in the kit needs to be organized and contained so that setup and cleanup are fast and easy. The kit also must be well-made, meaning all the pieces are there, and they fit together well in a tactilely satisfying way; I don’t want any wobbly bits. Last but not least, the kit should make something utterly delightful. It has to trigger the serotonin receptors of my designer brain (e.g., be really cute). The kits below all satisfy these criteria.
A disclaimer about me: I’m one of those people who really, really, really loves to assemble Ikea furniture. And I’m pretty artsy-craftsy — I have a vast arsenal of glue guns, and I know how to use them.
Most of the pieces of Rolife’s book nooks are laser-cut wood that you pop out and press together. The pieces fit perfectly, sliding and snapping together with almost the same level of satisfaction that you get from Magna-Tiles. The kit includes an LED and some easy wiring instructions to light up the resulting diorama. Rolife makes seven different book nooks, but there’s something about the mini bookshelf on a real bookshelf that’s just so gratifying. For a wood project kit like this one, I like to use Loctite Super Glue, which doesn’t dry out and is incredibly easy to control.
Perler bead projects do not need to look like summer camp detritus. They can be sophisticated and unexpected (yes, it is absolutely possible to make Hokusai’s The Great Wave in Perler beads) or be kawaii and delightful (why yes, I would like to make a three-dimensional avocado cat). There’s something meditative in the monotonous placement of these tiny beads and something very gratifying about the contrast between the simple individual bead and the much grander final product. The Perler website has tons of projects and patterns that appeal to adult sensibilities, as well as links to the beads that you’ll need, but a good starting point is a multicolor set like this one.
The “cake” is styrofoam, the “frosting” is Spackle (that dries hard), and the decorations are gorgeous plastic bits and bobs, so this cake will last forever. The kit includes real icing bags and tips, and there are instructions on how to pipe different patterns of “frosting” and a practice sheet. The consistency of Spackle is almost identical to buttercream, so you will be learning real cake decorating skills. Jenny Lemons makes retro cherry, strawberry, and birthday fake cake kits too. If you want to get into “advanced” mode, you can get a lamp socket, hollow out your cake, and make it a cake lamp.
I love Lego so much that I have more than 150 mini-figures in a custom display in my living room and many more builds displayed throughout my house. I’ve put together dozens of Lego sets, and this is my favorite by far. While the box says it’s for ages 18 and up, I think that has more to do with the subject matter; this is an easy build. And it actually looks better in real life than in photos because of the way the landscape and sky are layered in a subtle 3-D.
I almost didn’t get this book because I find most paper model kits frustrating: They tend to tear instead of popping out cleanly, the tabs are super finicky, and who wants to sit there for three minutes holding each glued tab closed? None of that applies here. These are very well made, are fantastically illustrated, and can be assembled with a hot-glue gun.
Another love of mine is collecting new skills — especially when that skill can transform the mundane into something special, like a wonderfully wiggly key chain. Just like with the Perler beads, there’s something Zen-like in repetitively stringing of each of these and watching something complex being created with a simple action. Even though this kit looks like it was designed with a tween in mind, it will teach you the mechanics of complex bead weaving.
Look at these teeny-tiny bunny buns and chubby-wubby baguettes! How can you resist? This beginner kit is pretty easy with only 37 (mostly wood) pieces, and all the pastries and breads are premade. This kit is a simpler version of the book nook because there are fewer laser-cut wood pieces to slot together. If you want more complexity and more pieces, there are more complicated Rolife miniature-house kits options that have hundreds of little bits of paper, wood, beads, plastic plants, fabric, and wire that you need to individually cut, fold, and glue.
If you’re mesmerized by molecular gastronomy videos like I am, but aren’t quite ready to spend big bucks on molecular gastronomy equipment that you aren’t sure you’ll use more than once, these kits may be your answer. These make-your-own candy Japanese kits are mini multistep food laboratories. I get a distinct mad scientist delight when dispensing tiny droplets into a liquid and watching them turn into candy gummy roe. Each kit has molds, miniature tools, and an array of candy powders that you mix, mold, drop, press, and layer to make candy sushi, ice cream, ramen, burgers, waffles, gummies, doughnuts, or bento boxes.
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