Art/ craft sets for 7 year old girl.

[bunnyonthemantle]

Dd has 7th birthday next month plus Christmas coming up. She's quite into her drawing. Really likes watching those YouTube drawing tutorials. She also likes craft but I'd prefer things she can do a bit more independently. Any idea for Christmas and birthday gifts I could get her? I was thinking of some how to draw books but not sure which ones to get? Craft sets she's not keen on sewing but anything else she seems to enjoy. Any recommendations welcome 🙏 attached a pic of one of her recent drawings to show where we are at. I think she's quite good but I struggle with stick men so not the best judge

Whatever you get her, buy decent quality. My daughter draws nonstop, and my mother bought her colouring pencils she had asked for for christmas one year. I had suggested to my mum she buy a smaller set of high quality (and therefore high-pigment content) pencils, but she had seen a box which had hundreds of pencils in for the same price as the smaller tins of the high quality pencils I'd recommended. It was only when they tried to colour in something together and my daughter preferred to use mine that my mum realised the different in the ease of use and end result. Brands like Derwent, Faber-Castell, etc are very good. If you buy her pencils, buy her a battery operated automatic pencil sharpener too. Sharp pencils are always nicer to use! If you want something that will multi-task, watercolour pencils are very good. My daughter cannot get enough nice A4 sketchbooks either.

She sounds like my DD(8)
Drawing books never seemed to go down well with her for some reason.
She's got a Crayola light box that she uses, they can use it to trace drawings or even just to lean on.
She loves her glue gun and a variety of glue sticks to go in it including coloured and glitter ones. She's always using it to make junk models and creating pictures.
She loves art/craft sets like Foil Art and the ones where you etch the picture.
How about an easel, a drawing board, or an art case with a decent selection of pens and pencils in? Or introduce her to paints, get her some paints, brushes and cheap canvases or watercolour paper.
Air drying clay is also good fun.
My DD loves The Works and vouchers for there always go down well. She loves choosing stationary and art materials.

Oh and Derwent do a battery operated eraser. I have one and DD is always after it so I'm going to get her one for Christmas.

Usborne do a number of How to draw books. Dd got one a few years ago which was really good though I can’t recall which one.

What about a scrapbook kit? I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve bought this for 6 - 9 year olds and it always goes down really well.

Hobbycraft have lots of cute kits that she would probably be able to do by herself eg jewellery making, sequin art etc.

BrightMinds site can be good for ideas though definitely compare prices with other stores as they can be a bit expensive imo.

Thanks for all these tips. The quality thing for the pencils is absolutely true. My mother bought a huge pack of mr men pencils last year and you can't even sharpen them. Electric pencil sharpener is genius too.

@keepingbees what glue gun do you have? What sort of things does she do with it

I used to absolutely love a craft set at that age, and used to always get one at Christmas.

The ones I can remember:

Quilling (is that what it’s called? With the curled up bits of paper)
Flower press
Watercolour pencils / paints
Cross stitch
One which was silver thread drawn over pins to make a picture - can’t remember the name.
Candle making (I was probably a year or two older)
Macrame
Calligraphy

I also loved meccano, Crystal radio, LED circuit kits, insect collecting and the like. They suit a creative mindset too, and you learn some science.

@bunnyonthemantle it was just a basic one from Amazon for about £5. You can get them in The Works too for a similar price. Amazon sell all the glue sticks for them too.
She does all sorts with hers from junk modelling to sticking bits on pictures. She also uses it to do 3D writing on cards and pictures. She's even cut the solid glue sticks up to make Barbie sized play food for her dolls (she gets her ideas from YouTube)

@keepingbees she sounds brilliant. It's so nice when they're creative.

Origami? My 8 year old son also likes drawing (lately likes the Draw With Rob tutorials on YouTube) and, via making paper aeroplanes has now got very interested in origami.

@bunnyonthemantle - there is a derwent art set reduced on amazon today. It’s says reduced from £28 to £18.90 ( although I never know how accurate they are with reductions!)

It’s a nice boxed set though

My daughter loves blow pens. She could also cut out her own stencils. We have many colourful hearts all over the place :)

My dd recently turned 7 and I made her a hamper of arts and craft and activity and stationary things, some novelty bits from Smiggle for home and school from their sale, Aqua Beads starter set, Water Beads (like Orbeez) Usborne around the world colouring book, Stabilo Cappi pens (you can't lose the lids and they are bright and last for ages), Stabilo Woody pencils which are multitalented pencils that can be used as pencils or paints or pastels and have good reviews from adult artists. Usborne water paint colouring books. Stencils, Blow Pens, I also got some really cheap extras from The Range online like paint your own sun catchers for about £1 which went down well, a mini spirograph set, scratch art set, an indoor snow kit thing, I think that was everything.

Just to add to all these good ideas, my DC love(d) tracing paper.
A huge A2 or A3 pad is quite expensive, but always went down well.

They liked tracing designs from books to make their own picture to stick to the bedroom window.

Another fun activity you can do is make Christmas lanterns.

Trace your design, colour it in with felt tips so the whole picture is coloured. Then find something round for a base (the round cardboard box from dairy lee triangles works well, but anything will do), stick the bottom of your picture to the lid so you've got a cylindrical lantern. You can reinforce the top rim with tape or a strip of card if you like. Add string to the top to carry it, and put in a battery tea light.
You can do scary designs for trick or treating too.
My DC needed help at first, but now they just get on with making their own lanterns every year - even the 13 year old likes doing it still.

I just got my drawing mad 7yo one of these. Haven't tried it yet but looks fun.

https://www.crafts4kids.co.uk/brands/aquarellum

Otherwise, I'd echo comments to get some high quality pencils. Oh and my DD loves using both oil and chalk pastels. She loves blending them. You can pick up relatively cheap sets online.

@bunnyonthemantle
I bought the Derwent set mentioned above for my dgd for her 8th birthday .
She is thrilled with it

My list is growing here. Thanks all
@GwenFromBudgens those sets look really lovely