Little Hands Learning | Creativity Box review

“A monthly subscription box, inspired by the magic of books”

If you’re a regular Love, Lucy xx reader, you’ll know by now that I subscribe to Little Hands Learning for Alfie. Alex and Isabell create the most wonderful monthly boxes, which contain a book and four activities – all inspired by the chosen book and centred around a theme. January’s box was all about creativity.

As someone who loves words and actually studied art at both GCSE and A-Level, I consider myself fairly creative – so I was really looking forward to reading the book with Alfie and getting stuck in with the activities, to show off our creative flair.

I know I say it every time, but this has been our favourite box so far. I would even go as far as saying, this book is Alfie’s favourite book – we’ve read it most nights, and he even took it to Malta with him!

The Dot is written and illustrated by Peter H Reynolds. It’s about a little girl called Vashti, who eventually discovers her artistic talents. She initially believes she cannot draw, but her teacher encourages her to just make a mark – so she paints a dot. She goes on to exhibit many different dots, in varying sizes and colours – gaining attention. The story has a really lovely ending, where she gives another child the advice she had received.

Of course, art can be perceived in many different ways – we can all be artists!

The activities included in this box were:

• Playdough art
• Art in nature
• Watercolour butterflies
• Art Show

We’re going dotty!

I was so impressed with the watercolour set we received in the box, and we also received a canvas to create a piece of artwork. When I asked Alfie what he wanted to do, he said finger painting – clearly inspired by the book. He used a few different colours before asking me to join in and you can see the different sized fingerprints on the canvas.

Once it was dry, I decided to paint an A on the canvas to display it in his bedroom. It looks great, although it's currently sitting on a shelf, and I'd really like to hang it up. I'm also considering buying some more canvases to repeat the activity and actually spell his name out.

Experimental time

One of our favourite activities is to get the playdough out, and while Alfie has all the sets so he can make various cakes, ice creams, cheese toasties, burgers and who knows what else – he actually loves nothing more than just playing with the playdough and creating shapes or leaving imprints and generally being creative.

The Little Hands Learning playdoughs always really vibrant colours and contain natural ingredients. The orange followed the book’s bright front colour and also contained ginger. We had loads of fun creating more dots, making marks, and also seeing who can make the longest snake with their dough – before turning it into a snail.

A beautiful butterfly

We got the watercolours out again to make these beautiful butterflies, and I'm now desperate to get my hands on some more coffee filters to replicate this quick and easy craft. There were two filters included within the box – and so, Alfie and I made one each, using different colours and creating different patterns. We also experimented with varying amounts of paint and water to create different effects. Once dry, we could see the finished masterpieces.

Get outdoors and get creative

The ephemeral art was a lovely idea, especially with the addition of beads. We have so much woodland nearby and it was nice to get outdoors and get creative. We’re already longing for the warmer months, experimenting with different locations – and the beach would be ideal for this. It's fair to say we're not quite on Andy Goldsworthy’s level yet – hence I didn't take any photos, but it was still lots of fun.

Since subscribing, our Little Hands Learning boxes have got better and better. This one will remain a firm favourite, I'm sure. If you're interested in purchasing a one-off box or even subscribing, visit the website. And if you're looking for a discount on a future box or anything in the shop, use code: LUCYLOCKET. For sneak peeks of future boxes, as well as other crafty and educational ideas, follow Little Hands Learning on Instagram.

Love, Lucy xx