Product Review - The Clever Baggers

The Clever Baggers is an on-line bag retailer, selling a variety of cotton, canvas and jute/hessian bags, individually and in bulk. Their products are good quality and great value, and come in a variety of styles and sizes. They can be used as shopping bags, PE bags, party bags, or whatever you want. As well as a natural canvas colour, they also stock a wide variety of other colours and some patterned bags too.

Cotton drawstring bags in a variety of colours.

The company can also offer printing, so the bags could be printed with a school or company logo or text if necessary. The plain bags can also be decorated with fabric paint or pens - great for kids.


I have bought a number of different bags. I use the thicker heavyweight bags for shopping or swimming bags. I use the small gusseted bags for lunch bags, and the medium sized drawstring bag makes a good PE bag.

Cotton bags with long and short handles in a variety of colours.

They have recently started adding to their range of bags by offering leather and suede bags, and bags made from recycled materials. Aprons and tea towels are also offered.


Their website is easy to use and well laid out, and you can order by web or phone. 

Jute/hessian bags

Overall, an excellent company, with a wide range of good value quality products. they are cheaper than buying canvas bags from high street stores and the fact you can buy just one bag or order hundreds of printed bags is a real bonus. Thoroughly recommended.

My personal favourite, heavy weight canvas with long handles.

Item descriptions are correct at time of writing but are subject to change as are prices. 
What to do with the kids does not work for The Clever Baggers. 
What to do with the kids accepts no responsibility for purchases you 
may make from The Clever Baggers. Please supervise children adequately with bags.

Paper plate creations

Paper plates are excellent for children's crafts and can be bought very cheaply in supermarkets and discount shops.

Here are a few animals we made.

Buzzy bee with ribbon wings

Octopus with tissue paper tentacles

Tiger and butterfly

Spider on a web of straws and wool

Dog with floppy ears

You could also have a go a making a meal on your plate. This one is made from foam sponges and paper.

Dinner time

See what you can come up with :)




All craft activities are undertaken at your own risk, please supervise children adequately. Take particular care with small objects, heat and sharp items.

Craft Product Review - Baker Ross

Baker Ross is an on-line craft supplier. Their products are aimed mainly at children and are particularly suitable for schools or groups of children as they often come in sets of four or six and sometimes in class packs. 


They sell craft essentials such as paper, pens, glitter, paint, etc. and also craft kits, eg candle making, puppet making, badge making. Most of their products are their own brand and not available elsewhere. They also stock some well known branded products such as Crayola pencils and Fimo clay.


Their website is easy to use and well laid out, and you can order by web, post or phone. Customer service has always been excellent when I have used them.


Overall, an excellent company, with a wide range of good value quality products.


Here are a few products they stock, which we have tried.

Good quality Giotto pencils with good coverage. Excellent value for money.

Giotto pens for use on pottery, glass, plastic and wood. Quite expensive but long lasting. Good buy as they write on a number of different surfaces.

Scratch art. Bookmarks, badges and lots of other items available. Easy to create a design with the stick provided. Good value. 

Stick on eyes. Lots of different expressions. Coloured eyes also available. Quite expensive, but a lot of stickers on the reel. Great addition to any craft box.

Sticky magnetic circles. These are great for making things into magnets. Easy to use. Good value.

Candle moulding kit. Easy for kids to use as no special equipment is needed. Just moulds using the heat of your hand. A bit more money than the average craft product, but you get a lot of wax for your money. Would make a good gift.

Badge making kits. Lots of variations on the basic kit available, eg, heart shaped badge kit. Easy to clip together, sturdy design. Good value. 

Fimo is easy for kids to mould. Lots of sets and single colours available. Bakes in the oven to harden. Good quality. Quite expensive, so best for small projects or older children where it can be used sparingly.

Great for jazzing your crafts up or sewing. Selection of different sizes and colours. Good value.

Simple to make pop up puppets. We also used the cones as skirts to make princesses without the sticks. Good value.

Mini calendars. Great to stick on a picture and give as a Christmas gift. Excellent value for money.

Union Jack paper chains. Great for Jubilee parties. Lick and stick design, easy for children. Good quality printing. Great value for money.

Jubilee drum kits. Fun for kids to play with and attractive beads and ribbons. The drum part could be a bit sturdier cardboard. Quite expensive, therefore I would probably choose other things in the Baker Ross Jubilee range as there are so many good value products.

Jubilee windmills. A bit fiddly for kids to put together, but good quality and attractive. Quite expensive, therefore I would probably choose other things in the Baker Ross Jubilee range as there are so many other good value products.

Union Jack cake cases. Great for a Jubilee street party. Good quality and value.

Red, white and blue card. Good quality and value. Shame blue isn't darker to match the blue on the Union Jack flag. Otherwise, a good buy.

These stickers are great. We particularly like all the different people in their uniforms. Good educational value as well as fun. Useful for picture making and as decoration. 

Plastic Easter eggs with hanging loops, can be decorated with pens that write on plastic, or ribbon, stickers, etc.

Pony beads, good selection of colours, large holes, so easy for small hands to thread. Excellent value.

Crown blanks for decorating and colouring. Stick on jewels work particularly well with these. Good for children's parties.

Easy to make baskets. Decorate with pens or stickers. Great for filling with sweets or little Easter eggs. Excellent value.

Good selection of sizes and colours of pom poms for all sorts of craft projects. Good value.

All craft activities are undertaken at your own risk, please supervise children adequately. Take particular care with small objects, heat and sharp items. Item descriptions and prices are correct at time of writing but are subject to change. What to do with the kids does not work for Baker Ross. What to do with the kids takes no responsibility for purchases made from Baker Ross.

Load of old rubbish?

Do you get fed up with the mountains of packaging, some of which cannot be recycled? Here are are a few ideas for things to make with it. 

How about using a polystyrene pizza base to make, well, pizza! Here are a couple of slices of pepperoni made by my daughter.

Slice of pizza, anyone?

Cardboard boxes are always good to keep. Large ones can become cars or spaceships, smaller ones, such as cereal boxes, can be made into houses for dolls, or beds for soft toys. We used some to make a robot, along with kitchen roll tubes and the end of a roll of gift wrap.

Pink robot

We used some tiny boxes to make an advent village at Christmas, complete with fake snow! It doesn't really matter what size or shape they are, as all the buildings can be different. We used white labels for the windows and doors.

Advent village

The Shredded paper and packaging chips you get with fragile items can also be used. How about shredded paper straw for your soft toy pet bed? Or as hay a farmyard picture? Packaging chips can be stuck onto paper too. The ones made from maize will stick with just water. Bubble wrap is great fun to pop! It is also great for printing with paint.

Our Christmas sweet wrappers came in handy making this picture. Coloured cellophane is a great collage material and kids love looking through the colours to make everything change colour. How about some blue cardboard glasses?

Sweets galore!

See what you can come up with :)

All craft activities are undertaken at your own risk, please supervise children adequately. Take particular care with small objects, heat and sharp items.

Dinner is served!

My daughter first tried out pottery painting in a pottery painting cafe on holiday and loved it. We decided to buy some of our own pottery painting supplies so we could do some at home. 

Firstly, we tried pottery paint on some cheap white plates. These are three plates she painted and we've put on the wall. Simply designs work best for kids, as you need a steady hand.

My daughter's masterpieces :)

We also purchased some pottery painting pens. These are easier for children to use as they are just like felt pens. We decided to create our own dinner service and some mugs.

My little one creates her own dinner service

I'm no artist, but I had a go too!

If you want to be able to use and wash your crockery, it can be baked in the oven so that the pen or paint doesn't come off. So far it has survived the dishwasher. I'm not sure it will stand up to the scratching of knives and forks, but if it does come off, you can always redesign!

I think this one worked better - keep it simple if you can't draw!

Paint and pens can be purchased from craft shops such as Baker Ross or Hobbycraft, as can the pottery to be painted, although I've found it easier to buy cheap white china from supermarkets, or cheap white tiles from DIY stores. The pens we bought also work on glass and we have decorated tumblers, glass jars and candle holders too. Use battery operated candles instead of tea lights for safety.

My daughter made a candle holder

See what you can come up with :)




All craft activities are undertaken at your own risk, please supervise children adequately. Take particular care with small objects, heat and sharp items.

Rags to riches!

What do you do with old clothes? Give them to friends? Charity shop? Sometimes they seem a bit tatty for that, but instead of throwing them away, there are lots of things you can make with them.

We had a lot of old socks which were too small for my daughter, and many seemed to have lost their pair, so we made sock puppets out of them. Here are the first two, made with fabric pens, wool and googly eyes. You could also try sequins, buttons, and scraps of fabric. If they are going to be played with a lot, I'd suggest sewing things on, but if, like me, you are not great with a needle and thread, glue is fine.

'Bits and Bobs', our first two sock puppets

Sock puppet family

Another favourite for kids is dressing up. Girls love mummy's clothes and shoes. If, like me, you have a few things you can, no longer get into, perhaps you could relocate them to the dressing up box. Mummy's skirts can be taken in without much sewing talent, and drag on the floor creating a train, which little girls love. My daughter has a wedding dress made out of old net curtains, much cheaper than buying a dressing up dress and if it tears, no problem. Old sheets are also good for making dressing up outfits, and for making dens :)

Old T-shirts make great dresses for teddies when they've become too small. Girls love changing the clothes on dolls and teddies. You could decorate plain t-shirts with fabric pens or paint if you want teddy to look extra stylish. Try adding some sequins for extra sparkle.

Recently, we were after some new curtains and I collected a lot of free fabric samples from suppliers, via the Internet. I kept all of these and they have been used extensively for collage. You could also use them for making dolls clothes, if you can sew.

Boats on the sea

 See what you can come up with :)

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All craft activities are undertaken at your own risk, please supervise children adequately. Take particular care with small objects and sharp items.

Art rocks!

Do you come home from the beach with a bucket full of stones and shells and not know what to do with them all? Here are some ideas.


Ordinary kids paints work well on stones, and glitter glue helps to jazz things up a bit (and is less messy than ordinary glitter!). Stones can also be covered with sequins or other bits and bobs, such as buttons, to make them more interesting. Add googly eyes to make faces or creatures. Here are a couple my daughter decorated.

Sparkly flower stone

Funny face stone

Do you remember making plate gardens as a child? These are still a great idea for kids, but how about making your own beach instead? It's a good idea to make this outside. Sand gets everywhere, doesn't it?

Beach in a tray!

Another good idea using small shells is an under the sea picture. My daughter made a wall hanging at her local play scheme using shells. You can use up all sorts of fabric and paper scraps, too.

Under the sea wall hanging

How about some temporary pictures? My little one collects gem stones and uses them for all sorts of things (counters for games, adding up, etc.) she also makes pictures out of them, which are obviously not stuck down. Great for making art over and over again! It is not necessary to have gem stones, you could use ordinary stones, painted different colours, or glass pebbles, add small twigs and leaves too, to make a nature picture. Here's a boat made by my daughter.

Stone sailing boat

See what you can come up with :)

All craft activities are undertaken at your own risk, please supervise children adequately. Take particular care with small objects and sharp items.

Cardboard tube creations!

We all end up with loads of loo roll tubes, kitchen paper tubes and packaging tubes. Instead of chucking them in the recycling, make them into some arty creations!

My daughter and I made this rocket for bonfire night by painting the tube and sticking a cone of paper on top and tissue paper strips out of the bottom.

Firework for bonfire night

How about a pair of binoculars made out of two toilet roll tubes stuck together? Great for spotting wild animals on a safari in the garden! Or a telescope, made out of a kitchen paper tube, to spot stars with? 

Recently, my daughter has gone Rapunzel mad and made a tower for her Rapunzel doll out of a Pringles tube.

My personal favourite is our sunflower, made out of a strong packaging tube. The face is a painted paper plate covered in seeds. The tube is secured into the bucket by pebbles and the 'soil' is made from tissue paper. My daughter named the flower Cissy and gave her eyes and a bow!

Cissy the sunflower!

See what you can come up with :)

All craft activities are undertaken at your own risk, please supervise children adequately. Take particular care with small objects and sharp items.