Book Review: Pattern Play

Disclaimer: I received a product to review. All opinions are my own.

I love books. I love crafts. I love kid crafts. Well, this book I was recently sent wins them all. I even think that it will be perfect on our upcoming trip. Pattern Play, by Nghiem Ta and illustrated by Danielle Kroll, is the perfect book to keep kids busy!

My kids love animals, so this is even better. Tbomb has been getting better at cutting and folding with lines and directions, so Pattern Play has been an amazing challenge for him. He loves cutting them out and then folding to see what they create. The stickers for the animals' features definitely add to the fun!

Kodabug is my future zoologist. She is obsessed with giraffes, but loves animals in general, so I knew she would love Pattern Play. I cut the animal out for her and then put the stickers on because she is only two. She loves studying the pattern and then playing with the animals and acting out their activities. She will even fold and then unfold them.

One of my favorite things about this book, besides the variety of animals included, is that there is a section on what to do with the scrap paper from cutting out the animals. We are not a fan of waste and this book has inspired me to start a scrap box. Mom always had one in her craft room where she would put scrap paper, cloth, yarn, extra buttons, and all kind of other goodies. We would visit the scrap box when we had a project, wanted to create, or had a craft to do. That box was well used. Now, our scrap box has been started with gorgeous paper that will be fun for paper mache projects, collages (especially as Koda is learning her colors),

I think this book is going to be a great addition to our road trip activities. However, I think I may cut the animals out ahead of time and let the kids fold them and put the stickers on them in the car- then they can play jungle together.

Pattern Play has the paper and stickers for 19 3D animal models. There are 48 pages. Each model page includes directions and quirky animal facts. The book is most suitable for ages 3-6 and can be purchased for $14.99.