stencil Archives - Mummy's Little StarsMummy's Little Stars

Hello Kitty Mandala Designer from Ravensburger is a stencil kit aimed at children aged 6+, to create Hello Kitty mandala designs. It comes in a small pink box that clips shut and I was impressed that this holds the stencil template, paper squares, the pen and colouring pencils. This makes it a great little kit for taking out with you or away on holiday.

The stencil works by ensuring an arrow is matched on the circle stencil to the arrow on the frame and draw through the stencil a couple of images of your choice. Then turn the stencil by either 1, 2 or 4 arrows forward and repeat your image. By the time the stencil has come full circle you will have a complete circular image of designs.

Miss M who is 6, is the perfect age to start creating these designs. She needed some initial pointers as to turning the stencil in even increments but once she got the hang of it she sat quite happily creating designs on her own. She even added some freehand drawing to her designs to finish them off before colouring them in.

Initially the set looks fairly basic, but it’s amazing how many different designs you can come up with and how intricate you can make them. There’s lots more potential to get creative as Miss M gets a bit older and more confident at using the stencil. Here are a few of the simple designs she came up with:

I think it’s really nice that you can create not only your own designs, but you then have something to colour in. You can use the finished designs for lots of things, maybe add them to a homemade birthday card, cut them out and hang them up along a piece of string as some bunting or just have fun with them.

The Hello Kitty Mandala has really kept Miss M occupied on her own and I think it’s a great little set that she can easily pop in her bag and take with her. The plastic case and stencil are well made and the pen and coloured pencils that are included are also of a good quality. This would make a lovely gift for a girl and something that can be used again and again. All you need to do is cut some little squares of paper up to fit underneath the stencil and you can make endless designs.

We’ve really enjoyed trying out the Hello Kitty Mandala and think it’s a fun way to stencil. It’s keeps a child occupied on their own and the designs don’t take too long to do, which keeps them motivated to see the finished result.

If you’d like to hear more about the Hello Kitty Mandala as well as other Mandala and craft kits from Ravensburger, then why not join their twitter party on Wednesday 28th May from 1pm – 2.40pm. Use the hashtag #Getcrafty and make sure to follow @Ravensburgerpc who will be hosting. See you there!

All reviews are my own and my family’s opinions and we received the Hello Kitty Mandala in order to write the review.

Suteki! Mega Stencil Station by Cool Create is the new Japanese stenciling art craze using a golden ninja stamper aimed at children aged 5+. The set comes with 9 stencils, 3 picture frames, 4 coloured paints, a ninja stamper and a workstation.

Suteki! has everything you need to produce three finished framed pictures although the paints, stamper, stencils can be used again and again.

The stencils are layered using different coloured paints on each stencil to create a picture. You receive enough stencils to create three different pictures, three stencils being used for each. Also included are three picture frames consisting of a front frame, backplate and sticky pad on the back to adhere to a place of your choosing.

As soon as 6 year old Miss M caught sight of this, her eyes lit up. She loves her arts and crafts and the Suteki box really appealed to her. It was the golden ninja stamper that really caught her eye and she was eager to try it out.

The first design she tried was of a girl. You start by placing a blank cardboard square into the workstation, then put the first stencil in place. The stencils are cleverly coloured the same as the paints so you know which colour paint to use with each one. Although this is only a guide and you are free to colour them as you wish. The workstation has four areas to squirt each coloured paint into – a job Miss M thought was great fun!

It’s then time to start by dipping the golden ninja stamper into a coloured paint. The stamper is a great size to hold and comes with 2 screw on sponge applicators at the bottom. This allows you to swap to use a different colour without having to wash the sponge every time.

Once you have paint on the applicator then dab it on top of the stencil ensuring all the cut out bits are covered in paint. It is then best to allow the paint to dry for about 5 minutes before continuing. During this time we carefully lifted off the stencil and washed it along with the sponge applicator.

When the paint is dry, you cover the picture in the next stencil and use a different colour repeating the dabbing process as before. Finally repeat with a third stencil to get the finished picture.

As you can see above, the finished result of the Suteki is very effective. Miss M absolutely loved doing this and it was easy for her to produce a great piece of art without it being too involved. I like the idea that frames are included as this really brings the picture to life and it’s ready to hang on the wall. This is perfect for her age of 6 years and requires minimum effort for a fabulous return. Anyone can do this, I think the age of 5+ is correct though in terms of keeping the template steady and not over dipping the stamper in the paint.

Miss M was keen to create another picture straightaway, so she got to work creating the monkey picture. By now she was well away on her own, happily following the process I’d guided her through on the first picture.

And look how proud she is of the finished result!

I have to say Miss M had a huge grin on her face the whole time while doing this Suteki activity apart from a few moments of concentration here and there. She throughly enjoyed it and was eager and keen throughout. I like it because it something a bit different, it has an element of fun with the golden ninja stamper and has been designed well with a plastic workstation tray that keeps any mess contained.

Here is Miss M proudly showing her finished pictures!

Suteki has been a hit in this house, a fun activity that I think is great for children to enjoy. It is a lovely to have a finished piece at the end that can be admired and enjoyed long after it was created.