At home, I think it is important to maintain the momentum and support his formal education with some fun creative activities, so when Faber-Castell sent him a bundle of art goodies, we were very pleased to test them out. Faber-Castell allows children to explore their creativity through the world of colour and their products are individually designed to suit the child's age and development.
The products we received came from the Connector range, which all benefit from having connectable attachments keeping component parts together. We received the Connector Clip Colours, a Jungle Adventure Creative Craft Kit with Connector Pens and a Connector Paint Box.
The Clip Colours Connector Pens have special lids that clip into each other, keeping the pens attached to one another. This is extremely handy to avoid the problem of rolling felt tips, especially when in the hands of a six year old on an arty mission.
The tips are quite fine and the colours are vibrant, making these pens lovely to use for both colouring in and drawing pictures or designs.
The connectors are used for creativity rather than practicality in the Jungle Adventure craft kit. The pieces clip together in a way that makes them great for modelling. The set comprises of some art sheets featuring cut out animal body parts, which can be coloured in using the 12 pens that are included in the set, and attaching them together with the 20 Connector clips and 50 caps to make a giraffe, a bird and an elephant model. Full colour instructions are included, for completing the project. There is also a background that can be coloured in to create a fun jungle scene. The set gives tips on how to colour in using different techniques such as using squiggles or dash lines. The Connector pieces can be used in a lot of different ways in other creative projects that children will enjoy discovering. At £7.99 this is a good value set, also available in Desert and Ocean Adventure themes.
The Faber-Castell Connector Paintbox is really lovely. It contains twelve blocks of colourful water soluble paint, a tube of white paint and a retractable Clic & Go paint brush in a palette with a lid.
Each individual block of paint can be removed from the palette and they can be joined together using the connectors on their edges. This enables the artist to put together a set of colours of their choosing or order them in the palette to suit their needs. The brush is great as it retracts into the handle keeping it safe from damage when not in use. The underside of the lid of the box can be used to mix paints, which is handy, and the lid clips on securely for storage. Prices start at £10 for the 12 paint palette.
The Faber-Castell products will certainly inspire little artists to create some works of art, but are also suitable for older, more serious creative kids.
Stockists include www.stonegift.com where you can find the range of Faber-Castell Connector products.
