Arts and crafts projects do more for kids than simply entertain them. They spark their imagination, help build pride in their abilities, and develop fine motor skills. This fabulous book and activity kit allows kids to make lasting works of art that they can proudly display on windows and mirrors — in fact, anything glass — throughout the house.
Window Art is a fine example of the Klutz company's sprit. Its line of book sets generally produce results that look more complicated than they actually are in practice. This project is easy to do, fun and creative, and the results are fabulous. In order to make these sun-catchers, kids use an included plastic sheet to cover a design in the book, and then squeeze bottles of special liquid plastic onto the sheet. First, they need to create a black outline of the chosen design before filling in the rest with colorful paint. A set of colors along with a bottle of black outline is included with the book. The whole process is manageable for kids as young as four, though younger children will do best when the bottle of black outline is full or near full (it's easier to control that way). In addition, they may need a little help getting the outline just right.
The full-color book includes plenty of tips and ideas along with page after page of designs to trace. Kids can spell out their names or messages (like "Happy Birthday") to create decals for decorating their bedroom windows and mirrors, create photo frames, and even feign a broken window with the ideas and ready-to-use designs in the book. Plenty of designs are here, including ones with themes like food (the ice cream sundae looks great!), the sea, dinosaurs, the outdoors, and the circus. Fancy corner pieces are ideal for dressing up mirrors, and a suggestion in the book involves warning birds — and even people — about sliding doors by sticking the decals on the glass.
Of course, kids can follow the book's examples to the letter. They'll have the most fun, however, if they draw on their own creativity by selecting a unique combination of colors for their designs, mixing colors to make new ones, adding dots of a contrasting color to the paints, or creating freeform designs instead of tracing the ones in the book.
Window Art makes for a wonderful project for practically the whole family. Traceable designs range from simple flowers to elaborate Tiffany-like murals, and adults will want to join in on the fun. The only down side to the product is that families will likely want to purchase more bottles of paint (extra sets of paint are sold separately). Although everything you need to get started (except optional cotton swabs for wiping out mistakes) is included in the set, the supplies will run out fairly quickly. Our testers were so enthusiastic about the activity that the bottle of black outline was empty after only a few days.
