Doodle Crate is a member of the KiwiCo family geared toward kids 9+. It inspires young makers to learn new skills and gain creative confidence through craft and art projects by teaching them basic and intermediate techniques of a new artistic medium each month. The sky is the limit, and crafts made from the same kit can be kept simple, or they can be made as intricate as the artist desires.
Though geared toward kids, Doodle Crate is gender neutral and also excellent for anyone (even adults) wanting a craft subscription. In our experience, this is the best “arts and crafts” box for older kids, tweens, teens, and adults – the end result is nearly always something you will want to save!
This month’s project: INK WASH PAINTING!
DEAL: Use this link to save 30% on your first month of Doodle Crate! (or Kiwi Crate and the KiwiCo family subscriptions Tinker Crate and Eureka Crate).
Doodle Crate Instruction Book
Doodle Crate tends to focus on a single craft and contains only what you’ll need for the project. This month is about translucent painting!
The booklet has excellent, textbook quality background on the subject matter of the project. Every Crate is a project and a lesson in technique – when you are finished, you should have a usable hand-made item and a new skill.
It’s loaded with high-quality pictures and illustrations to both give you ideas and help you along, and they produce a video tutorial for each project, too. Doodle Crate is great for providing perspective and inspiration for their projects, showing examples of the medium in real life settings.
Handy tips are located throughout the instructions, and they always include some options for customizing your work using alternate techniques or additional details.This Crate is suitable for a wide range of ages, and older kids and adults can bring as much complexity to their projects as they want.
The booklet proceeds step-by-step, from start to finish, with detailed guidance the whole way. The numerous diagrams explain every step clearly and make it practically impossible to go off track. At every phase of the project, Doodle Crate presents several options to bring added personality to your work – and you are always free to do something completely original. After all, it is YOUR creation.
Doodle Crate Materials
Every crate comes with everything you need to complete the project (except for a few basic items from your home), as well as a booklet.
Doodle Crate Activity – Ink Wash Painting
The first step is to practice painting first. It’s hard to wield a paintbrush but my daughter is having the time of her life with it. The instructions were easy to follow so she decided to practice a lot. Good thing we have lots of papers on hand.
Since the ink is a bit messy, it might be a good idea to put a cardboard or another sheet of paper on your kids’ working table.
It takes a little practice, but I love how she tries new stuff.
This activity is inspired by Sumi-e, an East Asian way of painting. Here’s an explanation from the booklet:
Sumi-e isn’t about making an exact copy of your subject: it’s about capturing the spirit of your subject using simple lines and negative space — the space that you don’t fill in.
After doodling away, my daughter tried her hand on making a chop stamp.
Chops are special stamps sumi-e artists use to sign their work. Your work isn’t complete until it’s been stamped with your chop.
Since my daughter loves books, she decided to make a book themed design for her stamp.
Here are the finished artwork from my little girl. First is the panda which the booklet suggested, the other one is a cat.
The ink pad is a bit small, you will need to be a bit creative in making sure that the entire stamp is covered with ink. My daughter learned to press section by section on the ink pad to ensure that it was coated well with ink.
She made another design for the final masterpiece that we mounted with a dowel. This time, it’s a bird and she even put a signature stamp with her initial on it.
Doodle Crate is a great subscription box for those who want to unleash their creative side. For this crate, my daughter learned a new painting style, as well as how to make stamps. They provide all the materials you will need to complete the activities, plus easy to follow instructions to guide you along the way. I love that this box isn’t limited to kids alone, even adults would find it fun and enjoyable.
Did you enjoy this month’s activity as much as we did? Let us know in the comments!
Comments