Mister Maker Alien Puppet Show from Hobbycraft

Hobbycraft are a company we've all heard of, but did you know they stock an amazing range of craft sets and items for children of all ages? They sell everything from Lego and Fancy Dress through to Baking and Horrible Science sets, plus all of the craft and activity sets for which they're most widely known.

We were asked to choose something to review from the Hobbycraft range and we chose the Mister Maker Alien Puppet Show. We're fans of Mister Maker here, especially now that we've met him in person! My boys are also very keen on aliens, so this is perfect.

The box is really nicely presented, everything is safe inside and all that you need to make the Alien Puppet Theatre is included in the kit, with the exception of scissors. 

I was delighted that 2 very good glue sticks were included, but we were disappointed that most of our felt tips didn't work, fortunately, like most households, we had plenty of pens the boys can borrow.

The boys are not usually very keen on crafts, but they sat for hours making this theatre and they did their best the entire time. Boy no.3 is colour-blind, which possibly explains why some of the colouring wasn't to everyone's taste, but it really doesn't matter. Although Mister Maker gives ideas for decorating your aliens and backdrops, there are extra bits included, and lots of scope for personalisation and creativity. I like that a lot.

It was loads of fun building this kit together, even 2 of the teenagers joined in.

The box that everything comes in is your theatre once decorated, and serves as storage once you have completed your kit. This is brilliant. It keeps the theatre and the puppets together and relatively safe from harm.

The instructions are really nicely laid out, very easy to follow and the language is simple, so an older child could easily complete this as a solo project. The only bit that could be frustrating is attaching the curtain, and we found holding it with a couple of clothes pegs while the glue dried was helpful.

We think this set is excellent. It retails at £12 and is suitable for children aged 3+. The age range is right, it's a great craft set that makes a useful toy and we've definitely had more than £12 of fun from it already. I'd definitely recommend this and buy it as a gift. To buy it youself visit Hobbycraft online.