Back to School Fun – Exciting Craft Projects, Toys, and Books

Back to School Fun – Exciting Craft Projects, Toys, and Books + Essentials | AD

We have a few weeks left of the school holidays but the end of summer always seems to fly by. Soon, it’s time for back to school for the kids. In this guide, I’ve gathered some products for back to school fun to get children excited about learning again. Plus, I have also included a few other more practical back to school essentials to help you prepare for the new school year.

Plus-Plus Learn to Build – ABC & 123

Plus-Plus is an award-winning creative constructive toy from Denmark. Children can enjoy building different creations using the same Plus-Plus shape in different colours.

The product range includes lots of different sets in different colourways and also kits for specific builds. All these can of course be mixed and matched too. Children can freestyle or build according to the ideas included in each set.

The new Learn to Build sets are lots of fun too. Here you can see the Learn to Build ABC & 123 set which is the ultimate educational kit for children to play while learning vocabulary and maths.

The set includes 600 Plus-Plus and 40 double-sided flash cards. The cards have all the letters in the alphabet, the numbers 0-9, and also special letters from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Germany and Spain. As we are a bilingual and multicultural family, I think it’s great that these special letters have been included.

This set is lots of fun for children to play with and especially great for children who are about to start school or who are in Reception/F2 to learn the letters and numbers better. Older children will also enjoy building the numbers and letters to use for equations and for spelling out words.

Plus-Plus products are available from amazon.co.uk and all good toy and gift stores.

Exploring Space & The Hunters – Books from Little Gestalten

Next, two lovely books from Little Gestalten. Reading books is naturally a great way to learn. Non-fiction books are a great way for your child to learn more about particular topics that they are interested in.

Anne Ameri-Siemens (Author), Anton Hallmann (Illustrator), Exploring Space, Little Gestalten, 2024

Exploring Space: Adventures Across the Universe with Emma and Louis invites children to explore the universe. Dive into this wonderful book to learn all about the planets, stars, galaxies, incredible technology space travel, and the far reaches of the cosmos. The book by Anne Ameri-Siemens is recommended for children aged 7-10 years. Each spread is full of fascinating information and captivating illustrations by Anton Hallmann.

Octavio Pintos (Author), Martín Iannuzzi (Illustrator), The Hunters, Little Gestalten, 2024

The Hunters: Predators of the Animal Kingdom is another enthralling book full of interesting facts. This one is all about animal species that hunt to eat and the different ways that they do this. From tiny insects and predatory birds to reptiles and huge mammals, from animals that chase their prey, to ones that deceive, pretend, poison, or hypnotise their victims… In this book by Octavio Pintos we learn about these incredible creatures and their hunting and survival skills. Each animal gets their own colourful spread that features lots of interesting things to learn about them in bite sized chunks of text. The wonderful illustrations by Martín Iannuzzi are excellent and make the book even more enjoyable to explore.

Crystal Art Bag Charm from Craft Buddy

Now onto a fun craft project that lets your child create their own bag charm ready to hang on their school backpack when heading back to school. The perfect fun activity to get children excited about going back to school!

There are lots of bag charms from Craft Buddy to choose from. Here you can see the new Harry Potter Hogwarts Bag Charm which lets your child carry the sparkling charm of Hogwarts wherever they go. The Hogwarts crest is the ultimate emblem of the Wizarding World and looks great as a crystal design.

Each Crystal Art Bag Charm Kit from Craft Buddy comes with everything you need for the project, including a clip-on hanger so that you can attach your creation to your bag.

You can buy Crystal Buddy products directly from their website or through shops like Amazon. You can browse all Craft Buddy products available from Amazon here.

Nitty Gritty Defense Spray

Now onto some more practical things. If you have children at school, it’s a good idea to keep a lice comb and Nitty Gritty Aromatherapy Head Lice Solution at home. Then you will be prepared when the dreaded text message about head lice at your school comes.

Nitty Gritty is a company that has been helping families tackle head lice for over 25 years. It’s safe to say that they are experts on the topic!

As well as having their award-winning Nitty Gritty NitFree Comb and the Head Lice Solution ready, I also recommend using their Conditioning Defence Spray. Prevention is always better than cure and the Nitty Gritty Head Lice Defence Spray will help keep head lice away in the first place. The amazing formula is packed with essential oils to keep head lice away. Just one spritz a day on your child’s hair before they head to school will help keep head lice away. (One bottle should last you a whole school year.) Additionally, the formula is great at detangling hair and smells great too.

The Nitty Gritty Conditioning Defence Spray is available from nittygritty.com and Amazon.co.uk.

Lunchboxes from b.box

If your child needs a new lunchbox, I recommend checking out the brand b.box. They have a range of lunchboxes in different sizes that have clever features and are easy to clean.

The available sizes are b.box lunchbox, b.box mini lunchbox and b.box snackbox. You can find out more about the b.box mini lunchbox here. Below, we’ll look at the features of the larger lunchbox and the smaller snackbox.

The b.box lunchbox is a great size for children who like a large packed lunch. It’s got ample space for whole sandwiches, two leakproof compartments with silicone seals for wet foods like yoghurt and dips, a removable divider for the large side compartment for customisation, a stretchy silicone seal in the lid to fit over fruits like apples, and an included ice pack to keep food fresh for longer.

It’s a great size lunchbox that will fit all the lunch food your child needs. I love the removable parts that makes the lunchbox so easy to adapt to your needs and the ice pack is a great addition too.

The b.box snackbox is ideal for on-the-go snacking or as a small lunchbox for smaller appetites. It features two compartments – one that can hold a whole fruit such as an apple with a unique silicone seal that stretches around the fruit to prevent bruising.

The other compartment features a leakproof seal so is ideal for things like yoghurt and dips. The lunchbox is also freezer-safe and microwave-safe.

Collaboration.