(Faber Castell $15.99) A painting craft kit that is part puzzle, part wall hanging and mostly painting. Kids will need to figure out how to best put the hexagons together and then paint and decorate them. Once they dry they can be hung with sticky tacks in the kit. Rainbow Vibes come with four 6" hexagon shaped canvas boards, self-adhesive rhinestone stars, self-adhesive rhinestone rounds, holographic sticker sheet, acrylic paint (pink, blue, orange, purple, yellow, green and

(Faber-Castell $14.99) With six bright neon markers, 2 foil sticker sheets, wiggle eyes, painter's tape and instructions, kids will have hours of fun as they decorate the images on this 1 foot high and 11.5 foot long mural. We don't review a lot of pre-made art to color, but we think this mural format will be fun to work on for kids who are housebound for long stretches of time or to use together on a play date. Staying inside the lines is not exactly art, but it is a skill

(eeBoo $23.99) Here’s a magical fantasy scene for the family to put together —together. Imaginations are likely to soar with the Steampunk Airship. So many wonders to think about in the futuristic illustration. It’s a challenging 1000-piece square jigsaw puzzle that makes for cooperative effort that everyone can work on from time to time, if you have a card table to leave it on. You might spin some stories together about the many animals and treasures that are being unloaded

(eeBoo $19.99) Concentration matching games are classic and this one gives a brand new look to a familiar format. The metallic shiny background is eye catching. Players take turns turning over two cards, trying to find a pair that matches. Typically, kids are better at this game than adults and that makes it more fun for them. The objects chosen are also good for knowing and naming and building vocabulary. There are 24 pairs of matches and the illustrations are stylized, but

( eeBoo $23.99) A multi-cultural group of girlfriends. Bookstore Astronomers, looking into the night sky and books to study the mysteries of the world. For bookstore lovers and star gazers, this will be a scene they will like lingering over. When put together it’s a 23” square built with 500 pieces. Ages: Tweens and Teens Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Gold Seal Award 2022

(MIndware $21.95) Paint it in pastels or more naturalistic bunny fur brown. Either way, this is a charming little planter pot that will be a keepsake from this time in your child's life or a lovely gift that a grandma or auntie will treasure when it's made by a grand child, niece, or nephew. Adults will need to make the art work permanent by baking it. 8 & up Ages: Older early school, Tweens Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Gold Seal Award 2022

(eeBoo $25.99) An open-ended design kit with 64 triangular pieces printed in fabric designs.. Use them for making "quilting" designs. Kids can make discoveries about symmetry, as well as turning geometric parts into interesting wholes. It's truly an engaging kind of puzzle with a creative edge. No right or wrong, except for the ones kids dream up in making their deigns. There are suggested images in the box, but they need not rule the process. The two sided pieces fit into

(eeBoo $17.99 each) Choose the theme you think your puzzlers will like best. Inside of each box, there are five small puzzles. Kids will need to learn to collect the pieces with the same color edge and background before they begin, or this is something an adult will do for starters. They will find a 3 piece, then a 4 piece, 6, 9 and finally 12- piece puzzle. We think the Life on Earth with big single animal on each puzzle will be the easiest. The playful Together Time feature

(eeBoo $21.99) Three ring circuses may be a thing of the past, but how about a three-ring giant puzzle? There’s so much going on in this big round playful picture! Three rings of people and animals, each little vignette picturing a pair – a helper and the one in need of help: a firefighter helping a cat out of tree; a little duck helping a Granny duck across the road, a girl with umbrella welcoming another girl to share it. There are dozens of these little stories scattered

(Mindware $16.95) A classic wooden alphabet puzzle with smoothly finished upper-case letters that lift to reveal a familiar item that starts with that letter. Note the picture above with an owl under the "O" and an elephant under the "E". Unlike many look-a-likes, this wooden board and letters are splinter free and crafted with care. It’s marked 2+, but smart as your two-year old may be, we suggest this is a better choice for older pre-schoolers of 3 and 4 and even 5. Knowin