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!
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).
This month’s project is HANDCRAFTED MINI JOURNALS!
Everything arrived in great condition!
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 making your own mini journals!
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 handcrafted item and a new skill.
It’s loaded with high-quality pictures and illustrations to provide you ideas and help you along at the same time. They also produce a video tutorial for each project, too.
The booklet provides a detailed step-by-step procedure, 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.
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.
This booklet is great for providing perspective and inspiration for their projects, showing examples of the medium in real life settings.
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.
For this project, the crate provided a tray, screen, jar, and sponge.
They also included shredded papers, confetti, and colored papers!
Doodle Crate Activity
The first part of the project is the mixing of paper. Simply put the entire shredded paper inside the jar, add some small bits of colored paper, some more confetti, and then push it using the ruler.
Next step is to fill the jar with warm tap water. Then, close the jar and shake it for around three minutes or until the shredded paper looks dissolved.
Once we ensured that the papers are dissolved, it’s time to mold the paper. You just need to pour the paper pulp into the tray on top of the screen and spread it evenly using your finger.
Afterward, lift the tray out of the water and let it drain for a few seconds and gently press down on it to squeeze out more water.
Squish the sponge against the screen to absorb as much water as you can, then squeeze it out the container.
To make sure that the water is fully drained, lay another paper towel over the screen and gently use the jar like a rolling pin to squeeze the possible remaining water inside.
Slowly remove the paper towel and carefully peel the screen off on top of the pulp.
Once done, leave it flat to dry overnight.
This what I love about this subscription, they allow my kids to explore and be more creative. This time, instead of square-shaped cut papers, my kids tried to use the papers from our hole puncher.
Like the first one, just put all the papers inside the jar, shake well, and wait for it to be dissolved.
Squeeze all the water using the sponge and a little help from paper towel and glass jar as a roller pin.
Remove the paper towels and screen, and let it dry overnight.
We’re done with our own handmade paper! We’ll be proceeding with the journal. According to the leaflet: if the paper is warped, put it under some heavy books for a few more hours to flatten it.
For the journal, we will be using the stitching guide, ruler, needles, clips, strings, and blank pages.
The needles are quite long and pointed while the scissors are pretty sharp, so adult supervision is needed when doing this.
Lay the handmade paper and place the sticker end sheets at the center. You’ll see that their is an uneven excess on each edge of the handmade paper.
Once the end sheet is properly placed at the center of the handmade paper, clip it along with the blank pages and stitch it carefully.
Thoroughly cut the uneven edges of the handmade paper to fit perfectly with the sticker end sheets.
It was a long process, but we finally got our first mini journal!
Same goes with the second journal. Stitch the center carefully and with accuracy. We made sure that it is tight enough so it won’t break off easily.
My daughter chose not to cut the edges of her second journal.
The uneven edges make it look more handmade and personal.
All of them look wonderful!
Check out all three mini-journal my kids made themselves!
This month’s Doodle Crate is fun and fascinating! The handmade mini-journal activity brings a wide range of learning for my kids, from creativity to being patient with the whole process, since it takes overnight to dry the handmade papers. Everything we needed for the project is included in the crate and we truly admire the detailed instructions and procedure that made the activity easier to finish. This subscription is great for any kid or family who loves crafts!
Did you enjoy this month’s activity as much as we did? Let us know in the comments!
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