Clock Kit for Kids Review

A couple of weeks ago I received an email from Charlotte at Party Creations asking me if I'd be willing to independently review one of the craft kits. Since Tiny Toy Reviewer #1 is - as she'd shrewdly noted - mad on anything art related and I genuinely liked the Party Creations website I agreed. So this is how we got on with the clock kit she sent as.

What do you get in the clock kit?

We opted for the space themed clock kit, but there are several designs available including nautical, ladybird, jewel and sunflowers. We also chose to personalise the clock with wooden letters spelling out my son's name, (personalised letters are provided at no additional cost). The kit comes with absolutely everything you need to complete the craft:

Wooden clock face - this has already been given a white undercoat, so that your child can skip the boring task of priming the wood.

Clock mechanism

Clock hands

AA battery

Two packs of wooden space themed decorations (pre-painted)

Numbers

Wooden letters

Acrylic paint - we received a small pot of blue and red paint. I was pleased to see it was acrylic as this gives a more professional finish and better coverage than your typical children's paint. But it still dries really quick and you can clean brushes with water.

PVA glue - PVA glue dries clear, is non-toxic and washable.

Paintbrush

Full instructions

Everything came nicely presented in a gift bag so that there is no need to worry about wrapping if you are giving it as a gift.

How we got on...

The website suggests that the clock can be completed within 2.5 hours (essential if you are using the clock kits as a party activity and the children are going to be taking their creations home). So we attempted to complete this craft in the 2.5 between getting home from the school run and my son's music lesson.

Apologies for the terrible photos , I am not a professional photographer!

Step 1 - The first step is, obviously, painting the clock face. This didn't take long and it was dry in under 20 minutes. This included putting on a second coat to ensure absolutely perfect coverage (we left less than 5 minutes between coats of paint). Tiny Toy Reviewer #1 also chose to paint his wooden letters red, which needed only 1 coat and was dry in a matter of minutes.

Step 2 - Before adding the decorations we needed to cover the entire clock face with PVA glue which - apart from sticking the decorations to the clock face - helps protect the paint and gives an attractive sheen to the finished product. You can thin out the PVA glue with water (we didn't), which will speed up the drying time.

Step 3 - This is the fun part! Tiny Toy Reviewer #1 got to add the decorations to the clock, (once he'd wrestled the little space rockets off his brother). I think he was subconsciously influenced by learning about symmetry in class. Any raised pieces must be stuck around the edges so that they don't interfere with the hands going round, but he managed this fine (he's 6) and I didn't need to do any strategic adjusting.

Step 4 - The glue drying is the bit that takes the longest, and this will need to be factored in if you're doing this as a party craft. It took 90 minutes for ours to be dry enough to add the mechanism and hands (please note, our house is cold and we didn't thin out the glue at all). This took the completion time for the craft up to about 2 hours in total. Below you can see the finished clock in its new home in the play room craft corner:

Verdict

The clock kit was an easy, enjoyable craft that creates a really nice end product. Mr Toy Reviewer was so impressed when he saw the finished clock that he insisted I had to write a glowing review (which I was going to anyway) and my son is extremely proud of his handiwork. Tiny Toy Reviewer #2 is a bit miffed he can't play with the wooden rockets any more though.

As our 2 hour completion time proves, it does work as a craft themed party activity and I should imagine most kids would be thrilled to take home such a unique keepsake. But it's also the sort of thing I'd buy as a school holiday craft activity (and of course, it would make a nice Christmas or birthday present). I think the prices are very reasonable, since absolutely everything you need is included, with a single kit costing Ł14.95 and multiple kits costing Ł9 per kit (minimum order of 4).

Tiny Toy Reviewer #1 says

"It's the best present I've ever had. I love my clock".

I think the "best present ever" is a bit of an exaggeration on his part, but at least I know he really liked making it.

A bit about Party Creations

I wasn't asked to do any more than review the clock kit, but since I like the Party Creations website I thought I'd share a bit about it.

Party Creations offers children's craft kits that are perfect for parties. The current party themes are clocks, photo frames, masks, treasure chests and jewellery boxes. Everything you need comes with the kit and you can send the kids home with their finished creation afterwards. All parents have to worry about is providing a little supervision and a slice of birthday cake!

The website also sells many craft themed gifts. These are some of the bits that caught my eye:

Photo Frames

I like personalised gifts, so I think this would make a really lovely present for parents or grandparents. The child gets to paint and decorate the frame and you can put their photo or their artwork in the finished frame before giving it to the chosen recipient! You can also add a name or message in wooden letters (no extra cost, up to 10 letters). The frame kit costs Ł6.50.

For gardening fans, there is also a decorate a plant pot kit for the same price.

Football Pen Holder Construction Kit

My son is getting to an age where he's football mad, and a pen holder would be handy since it might stop him stealing my stationary. But mostly this caught my eye because at Ł3 it would make an ideal stocking filler.

Dinosaur Money Box

I've bought paint your own piggy bank kits for children in the past, but have never seen a paint your own dinosaur version. Love this!

Racing Pen

Pen-meets-pull-back-car. My boys would go absolutely nuts for these racing pens and at Ł2.50 they are a bargain.

I'd definitely recommend the site to any other parents with miniature craft fanatics!