Get Crafting for Your Hip Hamster

Part of the Playful Pets Projects series (6 titles), this guide for advanced-beginner or intermediate crafters outlines four projects kids can make and use with their hamster buddies. A Popsicle-stick house, carrot and hamster-seed cupcakes, a cardboard maze, and a fleece snuggle pouch are all on the delightful agenda. Each craft begins with a list of easily obtainable materials and a photo of the finished product so that the child and their adult helper (recommended whenever cutting or a heat source is involved) can visualize what they will be making. Clear, step-by-step instructions follow with photos illustrating most steps, not to mention frequent hamster cameos. A final page offers pet-care tips, which youngsters will appreciate. These cute, well-thought-out projects will challenge kids and reward them with fun, but not too easily won, results.

The page of safety and cleanup instructions that prefaces each of these titles admonishes, “Never force your [pet] to do something it seems unhappy to do”–good advice for avoiding bites but also a reminder that consent applies to all creatures. Four projects include a toy, treat (or treat delivery system), bed, and costume, all made from readily available household and craft store supplies, with an emphasis on recycled materials. Step-by-step instruction accompanied by photos and in some cases by templates to help ensure a successful outcome. There’s much measuring, cutting, and gluing, with care taken to avoid harmful materials such as paint, staples, etc. Colorful textured borders and abundant white space are easy on the eye. -VERDICT Get in on the lizard cosplay trend (go ahead, Google it) with these entertaining crafts for pet lovers.