Our Chinese New Year Crafts with the Weekend Box (review)

I was amazed to learn that it was last February, exactly a year ago, when we first reviewed a Weekend Box. Why was I so amazed? Because the little bird table that we made is still in perfect condition and still being used on the balcony ! (Click through to read our review of the orginal box.)

Weekend Box is still going strong but they have evolved and improved their boxes. They still have the same cute woodland characters.

They still have the same brightly coloured bags containing the four creative projects.

But each Weekend Box now has a theme - this time we discovered Chinese New Year - and, along with the craft projects, you get a Talking Points card to give you interesting background information. This is a great addition and really increases the educational value of the kit.

Along with all the materials and ingredients that you need (apart from a few extras that need to be added, such as tortilla wraps, chocolate, honey/golden syrup and olive oil in this kit - all stuff you'd normally have in the house anyway), you get detailed instruction cards that are easy for parents and children to follow together.

Our first project was a Paper Plate Drum.

This was a really simple project and Pierre had great fun rummaging through our own crafts stash to see what extras he could add.

He was very proud of the finished article and when he realised it could be spun around to make noise, he was even more impressed !

It's great to see how you can make so much with so little. Pierre thought balancing a piece of folded-up red card on his head was a great game !

Transforming it into a Chinese dragon and making him dance was even more fun though.

Just look at the concentration on his face !

Another proud "Look Mum!" face when he showed off his Chinese Lantern !

We still have one project to do - the cookery one making Fortune Cookies which sounds great fun - so you really do get a lot to keep you busy over the weekend.

As a parent, there are a number of things that I really love about the Weekend Box : the fact that the projects are quick and simple (so you can have great fun and spend some quality time with the kids on a Sunday afternoon but still have time for chilling out afterwards !), the projects really inspire creativity and curiosity (particularly now that they are themed), most of the projects can be recreated using stuff that you'll have lying around the house (handy if you want to make a duplicate or if you have more than one child), it opens crafting up to parents who don't have a well stocked crafting cupoard or who wouldn't know where to start with fun kid-friendly projects without a helping hand ... I wasn't surprised to see that the company was launched by a real-life uncle who couldn't find a suitably engaging and educational gift for his young nieces and nephews. Last November, Weekend Box won the 'Start-Up of the Year' award at the Start-Up Loan Competition in London - a very well deserved win, in my opinion.

Weekend Box have kindly offered to give Madhouse Family Reviews readers the chance to try their first Weekend Box for free. Boxes can be redeemed from www.weekendboxclub.com by using the code MADHOUSE (new customers only and just one free box is allowed per household)

Disclosure : We received a Weekend Box in order to write an honest review.