Arrrr this looks like a good deal if you have a young pirate fan in your family - this Paint Your Own Treasure Chest kit is currently on sale over at Amazon for £6.99 instead of £14.99.

• Click HERE to take a look at the Paint Your Own Treasure Chest kit

There's something rather magical about treasure chests isn't there!  That whole 'X marks the spot' on a treasure map, following the clues and digging up a treasure chest full of spoils is right out of The Goonies (one of the best kid's films ever made by the way) and who hasn't dreamt of stumbling across untold riches; if you say you haven't, I won't believe you.

Your little pirate can paint their own treasure chest and store all their special things in; they can draw their own treasure map and play treasure hunt games with you and their friends.

The Paint Your Own Treasure Chest comes with all the following bits and pieces and isn't suitable for little ones under three years of age:

• One wooden treasure chest (11 cms in length)
• One strip of paint pots
• A paint brush
• Some gem stones
• A blank treasure map and
• Two pirate figurines

I suppose you could also use this Paint Your Own Treasure Chest kit to try and instill early habits of putting things away - ARRRRRR me hearties, I know it's optimistic but you never know!

Happy treasure chest painting!

Amazon are selling this Aqua Art kit for £6.94 instead of its usual £14.99 price.

• Click HERE to take a look at the Aqua Art kit

I love drawing and painting; I wish I had more time, in fact ANY time, to do it.  All of my children love drawing too - the two teenagers both choose Art as one of their GCSE options and my youngest will often choose colouring in over the PS3 or Wii.

According to the official blurb, this Aqua Art kit you will be able to create magical things on paper with felt tips and water.  I can't help it - felt tips, kids and water just send shudders of potential horror down my spine; perhaps that's why the Teenagers took Art GCSE, maybe they were deprived of this type of art activity as a kids!

The kit comes with:

• Work tray
• Eight sheets of blotting paper
• Water Pen
• Sticky pads
• Handbag shaped door hanger
• Silver chain
• Cardboard flower box/foam block/card insert
• Two cardboard bookmarks
• Assorted coloured greetings cards
• Three large white envelopes
• Eight flower stems
• Six felt pens
• Glitter glue
• PVA glue
• Template sheet (flowers, butterflies leaves)
• A sticker sheet and
• One pack of sequins

Just one person has felt compelled enough to leave a review about the Aqua Art kit so far - which you could either take as meaning no one else was very impressed with it, or they just haven't been bothered.

"I bought this for my daughter's 6th birthday because it reminded me of my school days. She loves it, making all the craft ideas are great fun and keeps her amused. You can also design your own patterns as well, which is good. Nice little craft toy."

Thanks to shadow1 at HUKD

Mail Order Express has two versions of the Hama Beads Animal Boxes on sale. Both contain 2000 beads. There's the Animal Box Rhino & Monkeys, and the Animal Box Camels & Giraffes. Great for the present drawer, or for the rainy day box. Or just for any child who really likes these Hama beads.

• Click here for your Hama Beads Animal Box at Mail Order Express

Both sets include the 2000 beads, and six bead board supports. Also ironing paper and instructions. There's a giraffe pegboard and a camel pegboard in one set, and a rhino pegboard, ostrich pegboard, and a monkey pegboard in the other. The recommended age is five years plus.

If you're not familiar with these, Hama beads are little round beads of plastic with a hole through the middle. You place the beads on the pegboard to make a shape, and then iron over the beads with a warm iron. This fuses them together, and the shape can be lifted whole off the board.

Kits like this can be a great way to get kids started. Be warned though, you can get huge tubs of Hama beads, and once they understand how it works, children can really get into making them. A nice way to help them exercise their imaginations, and spend some time doing arts and crafts. But you may need to create some display space in the house!

Debenhams are selling this Fireman Sam Travel Art Easel for £8.75 now - it was originally £17.50, then reduced to £14 and now £8.75.

• Click HERE to take a look at Fireman Sam Travel Art Easel

Long journeys or being away from home without access to all your 'stuff', as a child, can be b-o-r-i-n-g!  Bored kids are no fun so it makes sense to invest in a few things to keep our little cherubs occupied when out and about.

This Fireman Sam Travel Art Easel looks fit for just this purpose - it comes with 12 coloured chalks and a chalk eraser, 12 coloured pencils, 12 coloured markers, eight wax crayons, five colouring sheets with Fireman Sam pictures and a sharpener.

I'm undecided as to whether I'd pay £17.50 for that (I think my 'what's value for money or not' perspective is a little warped after two and half years of scouting for bargains every day) but it's most definitely worth £8.75!

You can arrange to collect your Fireman Sam Travel Art Easel for free, in-store, four days after placing and paying for your order, or you can wait the same amount of time and take advantage of standard free home delivery.

Happy drawing on the go!

I suppose drawing 'kit' could be stretching things a bit far, but if I just said 'Doodle Faces' that could mean anything! The usual price for this Doodle Faces drawing kit is £5.99 but you can pick one up from Play for just £2.99.

• Click HERE to take a look at the Doodle Faces drawing kit

Even though I do say so myself, I'm rather good at drawing.  Give me something to copy and I can draw you almost an exact replica, as long as it's already been drawn - I can't draw from photographs, but a drawing of a photograph...piece of cake.

However, faces have always given me trouble - cartoon or otherwise; I just find them impossibly difficult, so I'm rather tempted by this Doodle Faces drawing kit.

It comes with a little book that tells you how to doodle lots of different faces, a pencil with a rubber and 35 feet of drawing paper; awesome!  The reviews are good too...

"Bought these for a present for my childrens friends because it was something different but I've lost them to my children as soon as they saw them they were claimed as their own.

Great for keeping them quiet and entertained for a while shows step by step how to draw great pictures, gives great results even if your not the best of artists. Comes complete with paper and pencil and very neat and small, Would be good if you had a long car journey too. Superb gift at a reasonable price."

There's no delivery to pay on orders placed at Play, so £2.99 the total amount you'll be paying for your Doodle Faces - unless you buy more than one of course!

Thanks to wishihadadonkey at HUKD

Play are selling this tub of 5000 black, white, gold and silver Hama beads for £6.99, rather than the full £11.50 price, there are 100 white flower beads in the tub too.

• Click HERE to pick up a tub of 5000 Hama beads

If you're into Hama beads, what do you ask other people to find out whether they are too?  "Hi, do you Hama?" and if you decide you're going to make something with your Hama beads do you jump up and declare, "STOP! Hama time!" (<----- I'm in that sort of mood this morning and will have the dulcit tones of MC Hammer in my head all day now!)

The whole Hama bead craze has come too late for me to know much about it; I do know that if my daughter was 10 years younger she would have been Hama bead MAD and there'd be hundred and thousands of Hama bead creations all around the house (not to mention lots of loose ones hiding under the sofas and between the cushions!).

Now I know the item heading for the link I've given you says this is a tub of 5000 pink Hama beads, but it's not - it's the black, white, silver and gold tub.

There's no delivery to pay with Play either, so it's just £6.99 for your tub of 5000 Hama beads; HAMA TIME!

Thanks to wishihadadonkey at HUKD

Argos on eBay are selling this very cute Crayola Baby Hippo and Me ceramic painting kit for £3.99, it's usually around £12.

Click HERE to take a look at the Crayola Baby Hippo and Me ceramic painting kit

I loved things like this Crayola Baby Hippo and Me ceramic painting kit when I was little and was invariably given them either for my birthday or Christmas; I spent many a happy birthday or Crimbo hour painting various ceramic things.

You get five little pots of paint and a brush in your Crayola Baby Hippo and Me kit, along with a plain ceramic mummy and baby hippo so you can create and paint whatever designs and patterns you wish.  The Mummy Hippo also has a secret hide-inside feature for stashing away precious things, Baby Hippo can hide in there too.

The Crayola Hippo Baby and Me kit is suitable for little ones aged four years and older and will be delivered to your home for a mere 99 pence and will take between two and three working days; you can pay with PayPal too, if you want to.

Thanks to Syzable at HUKD

The Book People are selling this rather fabulous looking My First Origami book for £3.99 instead of £9.99, and I've got a free delivery code for you too; hurrah!

• Click HERE to take a look at the My First Origami book

Years and years ago someone showed me how to fold up a sheet of paper to make a cube, I don't remember how to do it anymore but I do remember that it was amazing and that I must have made hundreds of little paper cubes.

I rather fancy this book for myself, it appeals to my calm and creative side - I'm the same when it comes to folding linen napkins - and the finished result always looks so clever.

This My First Origami book contains clear and simple instructions for 35 origami projects, ranging from paper animals, boxes to store trinkets in and greetings cards - I want to buy it just so I can make that incredibly cute looking caterpillar in the picture!

Single item delivery with The Book People is usually £1.95 so make sure you add this code to your basket to get free delivery: AFAPRILFREE

Happy paper folding!

Mothercare are selling this Early Learning Centre Make Your Own Jewellery Kit for £5 instead of its original £10.

• Click HERE to take a look at the Make Your Own Jewellery Kit

Looking at pictures of this Make Your Own Jewellery Kit has taken me right back to when I was a little girl - I had something very similar to this given to me one Christmas and, for a-g-e-s, it was my most favorite thing ever.

You can make two bracelets, a hair clip and a necklace, decorating them with pretty beads, butterflies and ladybirds; my youngest niece would adore this - I may even buy it for her as it's her birthday at the end of the month.

Obviously, due to all the small pieces that make up this Make Your Own Jewellery Kit, it's not suitable for young jewellery designers younger than three years old.

You can arrange to collect your Make Your Own Jewellery Kit for free in-store or, if you really want to (although goodness knows why!), you can pay £4.95 to have it delivered to your home.

Thanks to pkmdpi at HUKD

Use these The Works promotional codes to get either 10% off your order when you spend £10 or more, or free delivery on any order (there's no minimum spend). The Works is a chain of UK stores selling discount books, stationery, art and craft supplies.

Click here to use your The Works promotional code

• Discount: 10%
• Promotional code: WORKS10
• Expires: 18th of April, 2012

• Discount: free delivery
• Minimum spend: £10
• Promotional code: EASTER10
• Expires: 12th of April, 2012

To use one of these two codes, go to the Shopping Basket page and enter it in the Promotion Code box. You can only use one at a time, so it depends on which will give you the greater discount. Standard delivery is normally £2.99. So if you are spending less than £30, the free delivery option will give you the most money off.

I tested this out on a craft set for children and an airfix model. Both were full priced items. Both codes worked just fine on this order.

Thanks to missgem at HUKD!

I didn't want to go out and buy a whole lot of stuff for Easter themed crafts. In particular, as we weren't doing anything like having an Easter bonnet parade (my son did that at school) I didn't want to have to buy a hat that he's never going to wear. Instead, I had some paper bags, and plates, to use as the base, and I bought some little chicks and Easter themed confetti (£1 each at the 99p store) and we used items that we had already in the craft cupboard at home.

Click here to read more...

Having a hard time with money? Or more realistically with teaching children about money? Well, Play.com have an offer on at the moment where you can buy this money making kit for £5.99 instead of £10, saving you £4.01.

• Make your own currency

Okay, what does this teach? Maths? Possibly. Counting? Sure. Making your own play money? Awesome. How to get into counterfeiting early on? We hope not. But it does look like a nice way of introducing money and the concept of currency to children!

With this set, you can make Yen, Pounds, Dollars and Euros and use the stamping inks to design currency combinations of your choice.

Play.com is pretty sparse on information, like how much it could make and so on, and there aren’t any reviews, but you know… sometimes you have to spend money to make money.

Thanks to wishihadadonkey on HUKD

If you haven't come across Bendaroos yet then you're in for a treat and this 500-piece Bendaroos Mega Pack is just £3.45, at The Entertainer, rather than £15.

• Click HERE to take a look at the Bendaroos Mega Pack

You know, I rather fancy buying this Bendaroos Mega Pack just to mess around with myself!  They look like the sort of thing I could 'doodle' with on my desk when I'm hanging on the phone in a queue or when I'm banging my head against the proverbial brick wall and just need to do something else for 10 minutes; okay, and my youngest son would love them too.

Bendaroos are coloured string coated in wax that you can bend and shape into 2D or 3D models or shapes.  They stick to paper, glass, plastic, and each other, they also unstick so you can use them again to make new models.

In this Bendaroos Mega Pack you get 500 pieces in 12 different colours - half in rainbow colours and half in neon - along with a guide to give you some ideas for Bendaroos models if you get a bit stuck and need some inspiration.

Thanks to lucerysmum at HUKD

If you have a budding Picasso in your family, or just someone who likes to doodle now and again, then you should have a quick look-see at this Crayola Twistables Sketch and Draw set - Smyths Toys are selling them for £6.99 rather than £13.99 (Amazon are currently selling for £14.75)

• Click HERE to see the Crayola Twistables Sketch and Draw set

If you love to draw, sketch, doodle or colour in, then you can never have too many pencils or crayons in your pencil case and even if you have LOADS already, there's always something lovely about new pencils to colour in with.

This Crayola Twistables Sketch and Draw set looks rather fabulous and features the following:

• 20 twistables coloured pencils
• 15 mini twistables crayons
• Four super tip markers and
• One twistable graphite pencil

I love that you don't need a pencil sharpener with this Crayola Twistables Sketch and Draw set and I'm not the only one...

"I bought it for my niece, she loves it. She uses it all the time. Everytime she comes to my house, the first thing she wants to do is go and color. she loves to use the colored pencils. The twistable pencils are perfect. You can put them up to color with them and then put them down so they don't end up getting broken off.

The box is also wonderful. Everything goes in it's place. all the color pencils click right into there plastic space and the crayons click in there place. They all fit right where they belong. I love this crayola pack." 

Thanks to Heaney812 at HUKD

One of the surest things about becoming a parent is that, sooner than you’d think, you’re up to your elbows in glue, scrunched up tissue paper, cut up magazines, and bits of old cereal boxes.

And as if to help parents out with ideas, just about every month there's something else happening that you can theme your crafts around. This month it is Easter.

There's lots of Easter crafts you can go for. Eggs, nests, bonnets, anything themed with chicks or bunnies. For this particular feature I'm focusing on Easter Baskets. And if you're not doing an Easter Egg hunt then I'd really recommend giving it a try. There's a little wood near us, and for the last couple of years a small number of us have got together and had a little Easter egg hunt for the kids. It is a huge amount of fun!

What you want to do is give the kids enough material to allow them to really go nuts with their imagination. And as it is Easter holidays, to give them an activity that will help keep them busy for a while.

All of which means one thing - you’re probably going to have to spend some money (ideally as little as possible)! To help you out, we’ve ferreted out some of the cheapest places we could find for the basic ingredients, or better yet, Easter basket making kits.

Click here to read more...

I first wrote about this Bendaroos Creativity Centre back just before Christmas - it was £10 then and is back on sale now, but for £7.50 instead of £20 (sorry if you bought it at Crimbo!)

• Click HERE to take a look at the Bendaroos Creativity Centre

I had a really hard time not adding a Bendaroos Creativity Centre to my youngest son's ever-expanding (at the time) Christmas present pile last year, this is just the sort of fun and whacky creative, arty-fartt-crafty thing he LOVES.

I'll be honest, it's the sort of thing I loved messing around with as a child too, and still do, so I was very restrained in not buying it.  However, he's doing exceptionally well at school and in all his after school sports - cricket, football and swimming, so I'm thinking 'what the hell' and might just buy it as a well done pressie for him - thinly veiled, I know, but hey!

Bendaroos are coloured string coated in wax that you can bend and shape into 2D or 3D models or shapes.  They stick to paper, glass, plastic, and each other, they also unstick so you can use them again to make new models.

The Bendaroo Creativity Centre contains 100 Bendaroos, in 12 different colours, and a variety of tools to create all sorts of Bendaroo creations: saftey scissors, two 3D models, four shaping tools all kept neatly together within the Bendaroo Creativty Centre.

Please do all you can to collect your Bendaroo Creativity Centre in-store, because that's free and home delivery will set you back and addition fiver!

Thanks to jemmahowells at HUKD

Home Bargains have a few deals on Crayola Glow Explosion sets at the moment; if I was 35 years younger I'd be harassing my mum for this sort of thing.

• Click HERE to take a look at the Crayola Glow Explosion sets

We all know the name Crayola and usually associate them with tubs of crayons on the middle of desks from our younger years in infant and primary school, at least I do - I think because that's my earliest memory of them.

Well, Crayola have moved on and diversified a bit since those days and now you can colour and create with Crayola Glow Explosion to produce works of art that glow in the dark.

I don't know what it is about things glowing in the dark that gets kids excited, but they do and these Crayola Glow Explosion sets are each quite different, so there'll be something here that will appeal to everybody.

The Crayola Glow Explosion GEAR set comprises bendy rods which you can shape into anything you wish.

The Crayola Glow Explosion SAND ART set is glow in the dark sand - simply draw a pattern, or picture, on paper with some glue, pour over the sand, shake it off and TA-DAAAA you have a glow in the dark sand picture.

There's also a Crayola Glow Explosion SAND SCULPTURE set - I think that speaks for itself, along with a set of Craoyla Glow Explosion PAINTS.

Each set is usually £5.99 and has been reduced down to £2.99, apart from the SAND ART set - that was originally £10.99 and is now £3.99.

Happy Glow Exploding!

Mothering Sunday is on the 18th of March. That's THIS Sunday. The one that is coming up next. Six days from now. Yes that's right. If you're the partner of a mum you have six days to come up with something special, and don't forget your own mum.

I know what I like more than anything for Mother's Day. Something home-made like a card, and a lie in. Breakfast in bed goes down well too, even if it is toast as made by a six year old (either over done or under done, and soggy with jam). Especially if it is toast made by a six year old.

Yes, I think home-made cards are the key, if you've got the time. As well as being cheaper (although this depends on if you've got materials to hand already) they're just that little bit more personal. But you know dads and partners, if you can't get the time to do something home made, then it doesn't take too much to personalise the shop brought card. Get the kids to write it out, or if too young, stick their hand on it and draw around it. The important thing is to show that a) you've thought about it and b) you remembered to get a card!

The internet seems to be truly inspiring these days. Here's a few of the most innovative, unique, and possible to do by someone with no artistic abilities, ideas that I could find!

Click here to read more...

Amazon is selling a 12 block artist watercolour set from Major Brushes for £2.90 instead of £7.50 including free delivery. That’s a fantastic 61% saving.

• Paint away with the watercolour set from Major Brushes

Paints in kids craft projects can be so hit and miss, it’s not funny. We recently tried an ‘art set’ which was lovely, apart from the brush and paints which were so rubbish we had to use our regular paints instead. I’ve learned now to make sure we have normal paints to hand, because the ones that come in these ‘sets’ are often a real disappointment.

This watercolour set from Major Brushes seems to be something pretty decent to have on hand though. It comes in a convenient tablet size, and has twelve colours. It’s ideal for use indoors our outdoors due, I suppose, to its contained packaging.

The paints are pure finely-ground pigment, if that means anything to you, and apparently they give beautiful transparent effects.  Reviewers say the colours are vibrant and the brush is good (although another mentioned that there was no brush included), and that the paint lasts for ages.  Overall, the reviews of it are great, and at this price, it’s a fantastic product.

With thanks to wishihadadonkey at HUKD

I haven't seen a deal for these Finger Printing art sets since June 2010 and I'm so glad they're back on offer, because I LOVE them!  I thought they were great when I first saw them and I still think they're great now - especially as Play are selling three of them for £5 and one for £5.49, rather than £8.

• Click HERE for the Finger Printing art set - Dinosaurs
• Click HERE for the Finger Printing art set - Bugs
• Click HERE for the Finger Printing art set - Safari
• Click HERE for the Finger Printing Art Set

The Finger Printing art sets - Dinosaurs, Bugs and Safari come in a printed tin with 10 colour pencils, 10 stamps, three ink pads and a colour 'ideas' sheet.

The Finger Printing Art Set has a little bit more, which explains it being 49 pence more than the other Finger Printing sets (perhaps) - it contains: 4 coloured ink pads, 12 rubber stamps and 6 colouring pencils.

Your kids will love the 'messy' element of painting with these Finger Printing art sets and you really won't get more unique pieces of artwork than the ones they create with their own finger prints.

There's no delivery to pay on UK Play orders, so there's nothing extra to add on for postage.

Thanks to wishihadadonkey at HUKD