Would you mind sharing opinions on my free arts and crafts packs

[RoxyFrances]

Good morning, I just wanted to get your opinion on these activity packs I'm publishing. They're free to download to help families over the holidays. But so far, I've only had friends and families opinions on them. So what do you think? The goal is to publish '100 FREE things to do' By the end of the summer, I'm nearly half way through.

I really like them op! I will say the picture looks very autumnal to me though

The packs say stuff like play doh is inside. How is that free to download?
Or is it just ideas for things to do with play doh?

The images suggest autumn rather than summer but they look good otherwise.

Great idea - but there are a few issues with legibility of where words are overlaid across images - you need to deal with the contrast and transparency. Here's a good guide: https://www.wcag.com/blog/content-over-images-how-does-this-ux-ui-trend-impact-accessibility/ Also I only use ampersands in logos and company names as they often cause issues with people using screen readers. If these are going to be downloadable then accessibility is important as per both my points.

I also agree with @Error404FucksNotFound - the cards are free, but the activities are not entirely, are they? Playdough (one word) isn't free - you need to buy the ingredients. The same is also true for painting, drawing, etc. you need to buy the materials - unless you are signposting people to free activity packs that councils and community groups sometimes provide over the summer holidays? I work with the public and believe you me, if you tell people something is free, but it isn't, then they will be quick to tell you!

As I say, great idea and they look really nice - I hope this feedback is helpful. I work in communications - hence my comments on accessibility - and I work with communities - hence my comments on what people moan about the most!

Thank you. I went with that photo as I was hoping to keep it all year round. Do you think I should go with something a bit less seasonal? x

Are you aiming to get orders for other packs that aren't free. Fair enough but if not I can't see the point of them for you.

The activites are free to download to your phone. And the actual activities are ones that require pens/ pencils and paper etc, lots of walking ones. 1 in every 10 is a baking activity, but I've made it so it's nothing fancy, just basic things most people have in their cupboards. Maybe I should include that on the cover...

I hate anything that says ‘making memories’ and I would also stop using the word free as presumably the only thing that is free is the card telling you what you need to buy to do the activity .

Thank you so much for your feedback! That link attached was helpful too thank you. I have never heard of a screen reader, so I've had a quick google. It's really made me re-think my whole website. Also, I love the idea about councils and community groups. I've ran lots of community events, but more trails and things like that. But it didn't even cross my mind for this. I'll reach out to my local library and see if I can hold something there.

I didn't really think about people not having the basics in. The baking one, is 1 per every 10 activities (which isn't free) but there's 100 others that I class as free. But you're right, people will probably want the pens and paper provided and some families may not even have those things :(

I might need to reconsider the title to "budget friendly"

No, not really. If people want to buy the other packs they can. They'd have to really want them to get them via here though - as far as I'm aware, it's a no selling platform and my links aren't anywhere. I honestly wish I could give more printed copies away because they've been great for us and the people I've given them to already. The point for me, is that I've been the Mum pulling her hair out, wanting a breather, zero help. I've been the broke, tired and burnt out Mum. I've snapped for no reason other than the fact I'm just done. But with pre-planning our holidays are different. They're fun and I'm not panicing. The kids choose what they want to do each day and I can put more money towards camping etc. rather than random things to do. The activity packs just give me a mental minute and one less thing to organise over the holidays whilst the kids are up my arse. One less thing to do makes me happy and more relaxed and the kids happy and more relaxed. I literally just want to offer that to other parents. I'm the one that buys a meal deal and sees someone who might need it more than me, so hand it over. I'm not here for a few sales (I can't even imagine this is a great place to make sales anyway), I'm here for genuine advice on how to make these activites accessible to other parents in my shoes. I'm actually a fashion designer, hence I haven't a clue how to go forwards with this. But I'm a Mum too, and I want to try x

Would 'happy memories' be better? Someones already mentioned the fact that some poeple don't have pens and paper :( So I'll be changing the title to 'Low budget'

The card isn't free, it's an instant download to your phone of 110 activities. 10 of them are baking ones.

You're so welcome! As I say, this is the area in which I operate, so I'm really glad that my feedback helped. Yes it's very sad how little some people have - I could tell you stories from having worked in the community that would bring tears to your eyes... but the good news is that there are people like you who want to help and are thinking of creative ways to help others enjoy their summer despite not having very much at all. Honestly, hats off to you and good luck! 💜

Thank you. Honestly, like I said, I haven't got a clue really. I'm a fashion designer with no background in what I'm trying to do here. I just hear so many parents saying money is tight and their kids are either bored or stuck infront of a screen all day and they want to get them off. With 10 years worth of documents on my laptop, I thought it's got to be worth a try.

It's a brilliant idea and I am sure people will be really grateful to have a resource like this over the summer.

Why would people pay to get a list of activities that most people would be able to google?

They're not paying? The OP is just trying to build an ideas list by the sounds of it, and make it accessible for parents.

They aren't paying, it's a free download and it saves people time and effort.

I agree with everyone else, that picture is dreadful. Also, what age groups are these activities aimed at? That feels like the kind of thing you should be able to tell at a glance.

But generally they seem like the kind of things that any parent with half a brain would be able to come up with for themselves.

Thing is, if I google “free and low cost activities for kids”, which I imagine would find your links, it brings up lots of activities already. I’m not sure what your virtual cards are adding.

Firstly, it's free. Secondly, because in less than a few minutes you can have 100+ activities on your phone as PDFs. Usually people spend time scrolling for the days worth, or maybe the weeks. This pack offers the entire summer. Printables, how tos, tutorials and people share what they've made too

In all honesty, I wouldn’t download something like this because there’s no particular sign that it comes from a quality source. There is a lot of free, not-very-good content out there in the world, and we’d all drown in slop if we weren’t at least a bit selective.

And I mean, to be fair — you’ve said yourself you have no background in this type of thing. You’d never heard of a screen reader before this thread, you hadn’t thought through the possibility of people ‘not having the basics in’ … It sounds like you are a person who doesn’t really know what you are doing, and also doesn’t particularly see why that should make a difference.

I’m also curious as to whether you used AI at all in generating the materials? If I thought you might have, that’s another reason I would avoid.

You sound like you've got a creative side. I don't think it would be for you anyway. I requires a bit more than a glance. I haven't put ages on a lot of the activities, as every child is different and the parents will know their capabilities. But there are age ranges on lots of them and they range from 0-16.

I doubt it. SEOs on websites take time and money. I have a full time job and 2 kids. So it's a slow process getting it to the right places. But when I do, parents who need it won't need to spend time searching.

For me (and others) I don't like being on my phone around the kids too much. I prefer physical items. So the cards work better for us.

Sometimes I try to do things to make others smile and I've had no practice. It's crazy. But it's me all over. I just like giving things a go and meeting nice people along the way.

Also, ew to the AI.

I guess by ew, you mean you aren’t using AI. That’s great. But you still need to be aware that people are likely to wonder about this and may question where you’re coming from at a time when AI content is all around us.

I do think it’s genuinely lovely to do things like this for your own family, your own circle.

When you start thinking about publishing it to a wider audience, then it’s a little more complex. You’re not really doing anyone a service if you plunge in without really thinking it through beforehand, including properly researching things like accessibility.

There are good reasons why standards exist in areas like publishing educational or artistic materials, especially aimed at kids. To ignore that because you just like giving things a go with no expertise — again, totally nice at the family and friends level! Beyond that, not necessarily so much, unless you’re going to invest serious time in learning what you are doing. Otherwise it’s sort of implicitly devaluing the expertise of people whose actual life’s work it is.