Craft supplies for girls — creative, colourful and truly home-made

At five, a girl mostly wants to make something pretty herself. With Djeco’s Nymphea set she makes a tiara and a magic wand, with the Bubbles beads her first necklace, and with SES’s knotting wheel friendship bracelets. A bit older, she decorates five mini boxes with gems. Join in the first time.

Around eight, it can get more precise. Braid kumihimo bracelets, emboss lucky charms in metal foil, thread jewellery with Richly’s luxury beads, or decorate wandering stones with stickers to leave in the park. Crochet, punch needle and small FIMO charms become fun now too.

Making jewellery is the best kind of crafting for many girls. With pastel letter beads you put your name on your wrist, and gold-coloured charms finish it off. Djeco has lovely sets with felt or paper flowers, and for surf bracelets you choose katsuki beads. More examples on Pinterest.

You knot a friendship bracelet from embroidery thread: a few strands in your favourite colours, taped to the table, and then knot away. With the SES knotting wheel it’s even easier. It’s most fun with a friend, and then you swap them. Examples on Pinterest.

With diamond painting you use a little pen to stick tiny sparkly stones onto a printed pattern, square by square. It’s relaxing and the result glitters, like a neon girl or a dog that glows in the dark. Start with something small, like a notebook or a key ring (the SES set is from age 5).

Working with needle and thread is something you can learn young. With the WoodyDoody sewing kit you sew your own woodland animals, and an embroidery kit with a pre-drawn pattern, such as a sloth or a horse, is a nice start. With string art you wind thread around pins into a cheerful figure. Want more? Then crochet and punch needle are the next step.

Making your own slime is a bit of crafting and a bit of chemistry: mixing, colouring and kneading until it feels just right. With the strawberry or cloud slime sets and the SES ones (from age 5) you have everything in one box. More sustainable: make slime without borax from cornflour and water, or from psyllium. Recipes on Pinterest.

Your own painting for your bedroom. With Ravensburger paint by numbers you know exactly which colour goes where, and the result is really beautiful. Prefer painting freely? A few canvases and paint are enough. Also fun: decorating stones, with paint or with Janod’s stickers, and leaving them in the park for someone else to find.

Giving something you already have your own look: that’s a makeover. Decorate little mirrors with stickers and mini boxes with gems, or paint a wooden photo frame with pearl paint. On glass and wood you draw with POSCA pens, and a decorated jar is for bits and pieces, not for eating or drinking from. Ideas on Pinterest.

From a sustainability point of view, salt dough or air-dry modelling clay is the best choice. For small charms and delicate pieces, FIMO, clay you harden in the oven, actually works best: it’s a plastic and therefore sturdier. An adult does the baking. Did you know you can make salt dough yourself, from 2 cups of flour, 1 cup of salt and about 1 cup of water? Then let it dry and paint it: that’s how you make your prettiest little works of art!

You can make the prettiest things from what you’d otherwise throw away. With Makedo, reusable screws and a safe saw, you build a doll’s house, a little shop or a castle out of a cardboard box. From egg boxes and toilet rolls you cut flowers, butterflies or fairies, and coloured paper, felted wool and glue finish it off. Ideas on Pinterest.

With a flower press you keep the prettiest flowers and leaves: put them between the paper, tighten the press and let them dry for a few weeks. Then glue them onto a card or a bookmark, or decorate a vase with leaves. More ideas on Pinterest.

Sustainable crafting starts with what you already have, such as empty jars, egg boxes and flowers from the garden. If you buy something, choose ironing beads made from sugarcane (Hama Midi Bio or SES’s Green Beedz), paper or wooden beads instead of plastic, and FIMO Air, made of kaolin, instead of FIMO. Read more in sustainable gifting.

A craft book gives ideas for weeks, step by step and with photos. The big CreaChick activity books are full of crafting, drawing and writing ideas, Het Knalgoede Knutselboek makes lovely things from natural and recycled materials, and in the Dutch series Knutselen met de Zoete Zusjes, Saar and Janna knot friendship bracelets and much more. (The books are in Dutch, but the photos show the way.)