Learn Embroidery - Natural Splendor Designs Kit

Disclosure: I received product at no charge in exchange for my honest review. Post contains affiliate link.

Learning embroidery is fun and simple with the Natural Splendor Embroidery Designs Kit by Kelly Fletcher, that comes with all the materials you'll need to create two nature-inspired projects, plus patterns for ten more designs. It's the perfect way to get started on a brand new hobby! My mom started teaching me embroidery and cross-stitch when I was a very young girl and I still love to do it.

Natural Splendor comes in a magnetic-closure box that doubles as storage for all your crafting materials. The kit comes with a 64-page paperback instruction book, an embroidery hoop, embroidery thread in a rainbow of colors, three sheets of patterns, fabric, and needles. The fully illustrated guide book has everything you need to start embellishing anything and everything with modern, chic embroidery.

Even if you're completely new to needlework and embroidery, Natural Splendor is a great starting point, because it opens with a how-to on basic embroidery stitches. From there, the step-by-step projects will show you how to add designs from nature to purses, pillows, skirts, backpacks, and just about anything you can get a needle through!

This amazing all in one craft kit features these twelve projects: Beetle, Bumblebee, Butterfly, Dandelion, Dragonfly, Flowers and Sprigs, Hummingbird, Ladybug, Leaves, Mushroom, Seedpods, and Water Lily. Knowing how to use a needle and thread is a skill that is essential to everyone at any age. Did you know many people don't even know how to properly sew on a button?

Natural Splendor Embroidery Designs is a fabulous holiday gift idea. Crafting kits require no batteries, get kids away from electronic screens, teach essential new skills, and are perfect "keep busy" projects for rainy days and snowy days. I love this kit and can't wait to create some amazing finished projects!

Order your kit today! 

Embroidery Designs: Natural Splendor

is available on Amazon.

Oogi Family - This Year's Favorite Fidget Toy

Disclosure: I received product at no charge in exchange for my honest review. Post contains affiliate link.

Kids are going crazy over this incredible, award-winning Oogi Family from Moluk! One of MY favorite toy picks this year, Oogi Family is a set of four silicone figures that feature suction cups for hands, feet, and face. These fun figures will stick to any smooth surface, including themselves and each other!

Oogi Family comes with a large red figure, a large blue figure, a small red figure, and a small blue figure. Fidget toys are perfect for car trips, plane rides, long waits for appointments, rainy days, or when parents need a few precious minutes of peace and quiet. Oogi Family's long stretchy arms make the figures irresistible to children.

Oogi Family is safe and durable, made of high quality silicone that is easy to clean. Children's imaginations will soar with Oogi as kids discover how suction cups work. They will learn what Oogi can stick to and what Oogi falls away from, and these investigative skills will help them become good scientists.

Fine motor skills (also known as small motor skills) gained from playing with the Oogi Family figures include stronger grasping skills and better hand-eye coordination. Oogi also helps develop the social and emotional skills of children, as they use the figures for role playing and story telling. Above, we can see this Oogi Family is playing a "ring around the roses" game.

Oogi Family is a gender neutral toy, making this toy perfect for girls and boys, and allows children of non-traditional family backgrounds to see (and act out) their own family dynamics. Oogi is fun to stick to mirrors, windows, smooth tabletops, and even dad's eyeglass lenses. Your children will have so much fun with these floppy, rubbery friends.

These lightweight toys make great stocking stuffers and you can even buy Oogi figures individually! Grandparents will love having the Oogi Family at their own house because clean up is easy, storage is simple, and no batteries are required. Child-powered toys are always strongly recommended in this age of electronics and screens!

Designed for ages 3 and up, Oogi Family will keep your children entertained for hours. Parents can encourage exploration by asking children questions like: Do they stick to the window inside AND outside? Do they stick together when they are wet/dry? Can you join all their hands and make a circle? Where is Oogi Family going today? Tell me about the adventures of your Oogi Family today.

Order Oogi Family today!

Solar System - Smithsonian Exploration Station for Kids

Disclosure: I received product at no charge in exchange for my honest review. Post contains affiliate link.

If you have a budding astronomer or astronaut in your home, then I have found the perfect gift that will make you a star this holiday season! The Smithsonian Exploration Station: Solar System is an activity box that delves deep into outer space in a fun, educational way.

The Solar System exploration station includes a book, a poster, reusable stickers, glow in the dark stars, and space play figures, plus a unique storage box that holds everything (and is flat on the bottom so it can easily sit on its side on a bookshelf.

The 56 page fact book is a paperback with quality high gloss pages, full of amazing photographs and  interesting facts about the planets, the moon, comets, and much more. Targeted towards school-agers, the exploration station will answer some of their questions, and will likely spark new intrigue about the solar system.

The five play figures are definitely going to be a favorite aspect of the Solar System exploration station. Everyone loves to countdown and blast off to the moon! Included are two astronauts, a satellite, a space shuttle, and a rocket, all made of a durable plastic.

The laminated poster and the reusable stickers are a fabulous way to become more accustomed to where the planets orbit around the sun in our solar system. There are three sheets of stickers for a total of 30 stickers, including the planets and their names. Your child will spend hours exploring the Solar System!

There are also 22 glow in the dark stars, made of plastic, and two sheets of double-sided sticky dots, so you can adhere the stickers to your child's bedroom ceiling. When darkness falls, the stars will cast a soft light. You could even arrange them in a constellation!

I think the Solar System exploration station from Smithsonian is fantastic! My own kids loved these kinds of activity boxes when they were younger and I know yours will love it too. There are several different exploration station themes available.

Get it today on Amazon!