Little Hands Learning | Pet Box

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

Long time no post, I know… and even longer since our last Little Hands Learning box review. This one is fantastic though – so grab a cuppa and read on!

March’s box was themed pet… and no, there weren't any animals in our box! Instead, Alfie was given the responsibility of caring for his pet potato, inspired by the book The Pet Potato – written by Josh Lacey and illustrated by Momoko Abe, which was also signed (our favourite kind of book).

It tells the story of a little boy called Albert who, like most children (Alfie included), is desperate for a pet. He receives a pet potato from his dad and the two end up doing everything together until the potato goes mouldy and gets buried in the garden. Albert decides he doesn’t want a pet anymore, only his special pet potato. Of course, what happens next is so exciting, and Albert is no longer sad.

The activities inspired by the book were:

• My playdough pet
• Build a home for your pet
• Grow a grass head
• Grow your own potatoes

Mr Grass Head

Move over Mr Napkin Head (film reference – IYKYK), Mr Grass Head is in town. Alfie did this activity with my mum on one of the school strike days, so I found a pair of old tights and left them to it. Alfie enjoyed mixing the soil with water and spooning it into the tights.

He then decorated his grass head using the bits of felt provided, adding some eye stickers from the Desert Island box and a red pompom for the nose because “it’s Comic Relief on Friday”. Our grass head started off with baby hair around the back (basically all the white roots) and it looked as though the poor thing was going to be bald… but he's now flourishing and frankly, in need of a haircut – aren't we all, hun?

This is the house that Alf built

Maybe slightly misleading, as it was mummy that did the assembling, but we really enjoyed colouring the house together. Of course, Alfie roped me in – who am I kidding, I didn’t need any persuading!

He started off by colouring the walls with red crayon (the crayons were also provided in the box) and I thought oh nice, it is a red brick house. But instead, he said, “Mummy, it’s on fire” before scribbling blue crayon over the top to put the fire out… boys, eh! He then coloured the flowers in beautifully before I finished off the other half and did the cutting and sticking. Alfie then proudly placed his pet potato in the house. Home sweet home.

Pet Collection

I knew the ‘My Playdough Pet’ activity would be a hit with Alfie. He has the pieces for playdough Mr Potato Head as well as a Playdoh set which came with a variety of eyes, mouths, arms, legs, and other accessories – so we do often make characters using playdough.

We actually combined those sets, with the beads provided in the Little Hands Learning box to create some really weird and wacky characters – also using other colours of playdough in addition to the gorgeous and vibrant green Little Hands Learning dough. Once we had finished, I got Alfie to name them all and it kind of turned into Minions with a Kevin, Paul, Tom and Gru. I forgot to take photos, we were having that much fun – but next time, for sure!

Unlike in the story, our potato isn't mouldy, but we're currently still chitting it. I had planned to plant it at the weekend, but time ran away, so it’s a job for this weekend (as well as our sweet peas which have done amazingly well after I propagated them). I highly anticipate the fruits (or spuds) of our labour!

The Pet Box is still available, and spoiler alert, April’s box for Explorer Level (3-6 years old) is also available now. It's all about nature (so perfect for spring) and is the Tree Box. Grab it before anyone else with the discount code: LUCYLOCKET. If you weren’t already sold, the book is also signed! Run, don’t walk!

Follow Little Hands Learning on Instagram for sneak peeks of future boxes, plus lots of educational ideas, fun crafts, and experiments.

Love, Lucy xx