Skullduggery Heart Keepsake Box Kit

(Skullduggery $19.99)

A perfect gift-making kit for Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanza, or Valentines Day! This should be called a "boxes" kit, since you can make two beautiful heart shaped boxes with the well designed and plentiful supplies in this craft kit. They can make one for Grandma or the teacher and keep one for themselves. We liked the Skullduggery flowerpot kit too, but this one is even more substantial.

We worried that the heart lid and box would be hard to get out of the rubber molds, but that's not true. If you let them dry, they come out with relative ease. Younger kids may need parental help and supervision to protect surfaces while mixing the plaster. But the mix process and pouring is all done in the bag the plaster powder comes in, a remarkably clean design. (See photo below with the rubber molds and the drying plaster box and lid, ready for paint. They took just an hour to dry. But the painting is better if you wait at least a day for the plaster to totally dry.)

Of course, putting the lid on and off a plaster box will require a light touch as the end product is used, however this is a lovely craft kit for 8's and up. We think tweens will like it best. Although this is not designed as a S.T.E.M. toy, it's worth noting that while working with plaster is really a hands-on science experience with an opportunity to observe, discuss, and expand upon what's happening when water is added to the powdery plaster and what happens next. What other powdery things can they think of that change and what causes then to change?