Busy Little Hands: Art Play!

by Meredith Magee Donnelly

[annieb123]

Originally published on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

Busy Little Hands: Art Play! is a tutorial guide in the Busy Little Hands series aimed at preschoolers and their caregivers for creativity play. Due out 10th Nov 2020 from Storey Publishing, it's 48 pages and will be available in hardcover and ebook formats.

This is an absolutely exuberant, brightly colored, and fun little book chock full of great ideas to engage young kids in exploring creativity and mastering fine motor skills. The text is very simple and the included projects are well photographed, and will appeal to almost everyone. The steps which require some (minor) help from an adult helper are clearly marked in highlighted text sidebars in each tutorial. I liked that the children pictured are inclusive and representative of a wide variety of backgrounds. Representation is very important.

Each of the projects includes prep-steps for grownups showing suggested materials, tips for protecting surfaces, and cleanup. The tutorials themselves are photographed with step-by-step photos and finished projects pictures. The instructions are encouraging and supportive (you're the artist, you decide, you choose, etc). There are a number of tutorials with a huge amount of kid-appeal (playdough, painted building blocks (using an old salad spinner - very creative), painting with found objects in nature, and lots more.

This would be a superlative gift, excellent classroom or library group selection for activity groups, a wonderful parent/caregiver activity, or even for babysitters and child-minders looking to up their activity time with their small charges. Artistic exploration allows children to improve fine motor skills and gives them a feeling of accomplishment and control.

I loved this one. It's simple but so well done. The tutorials are simple and the tools and supplies are easy to source and inexpensive

Five stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.