Setting up a craft table that survives a whole afternoon

Most craft kits are abandoned for reasons that have nothing to do with the kit.

Children working on an ALEX Toys craft kit

Cover more than you think

A kit occupies about twice the area of its box once it is open. An oilcloth or a cut-open paper bag that covers the whole table ends the argument about where the glue is allowed to go.

Put the lid where the child can see it

Children work from the picture, not the instructions. Prop the lid against a wall and half the questions disappear.

Set out a done pile and a drying pile

Almost every craft activity has a waiting step. Two labelled spaces turn waiting into part of the project rather than the end of it.

Stop before the box is empty

Leaving two projects in a kit is the easiest way to get a second afternoon out of it, and it saves the sulk that comes when a favourite set runs out mid-week.