Booklist Advance Review of Crafts in a Snap!

With educational tidbits and an eco-friendly focus, the Crafts in a Snap! series serves up conscientious art projects suitable for primary-grade children. Each themed volume presents seven crafts designed to incorporate repurposed materials, from empty bottles and jars to old clothing and magazines. The same general introduction prefaces each title, noting the value of reusing materials and providing basic tips and cautions for successful craft sessions. Additional supplies (glue, pipe cleaners, tissue paper, construction paper, etc.) are easy to obtain if not already in a child’s art box. The projects themselves are clearly organized with a fact-filled intro, a boxed supply list, and step-by-step instructions illustrated with photos depicting the crafts at various states of completion. A soda-bottle shark, necktie snake, pom-pom hedgehog, and toilet paper-tube owl populate the pages of Artful Animals. With Far Out Flowers, kids can cultivate egg-carton tulips, tissue-paper cherry blossoms, craft-stick daisies, and woven wildflowers. Groovy Gifts dips into jam-jar sand art, a plant hanger macraméed from an old t-shirt, and a craft-stick picture frame. Paper beads, soda-tab bracelets, paper-tube wristbands, and a fanny pack fashioned from old pants are a few ways Wacky Wearables helps kids make a fashion statement. A “Trash to Treasure” note closes each book, highlighting art pieces made from reclaimed materials and encouraging readers to creatively combat humanity’s wasteful habits.