No matter how high tech toys become, one thing that’s always a hit with little girls is a tea set. Hosting tea parties with favorite stuffed friends and dolls are a perennial pastime every little girl.
Sure, you can find inexpensive plastic sets at the local discount toy store or heirloom porcelain tea sets that never are used, but here’s an option that’s creative and artistic as well as something your daughter will enjoy using every day.
4M Paint Your Own Mini Tea Set By 4M ASIN: B0019MOHAM
4M makes a wide variety of craft sets that gives children an opportunity to develop their artistic skills. The completed kits are also great toys to add to their play room and can be used for years. This kit is recommended for children nine years of age and up.
Ceramic Tea Set
This 13-piece set is made of paintable ceramic and includes four cups and saucers, a sugar bowl and creamer, as well as a lidded teapot.
The white ceramic is waterproof and durable. However, as it is ceramic, it can break on impact to a hard surface.
This is an extra tiny set that’s just right for dolls and stuffed animals.
If your daughter wants to host a tea party for Mom and Dad, you’ll need to find a larger set that’s more ‘people sized.’
Paints And Brush
Red, blue, yellow and black are the colors of paint that are included in the set. These paints are acrylic and non-toxic. That means they can be diluted with water, dry quickly and are safe for your children to use.
This also means that that permanent paint can make a colorful mess that doesn’t clean up easily. Acrylic paint that’s dried on a non-porous surface can be scraped off, but it can stain surfaces like counters, floors and walls. You should make sure you cover your child’s work area to avoid colorful permanent reminders from an over-exuberant painting session.
After you and your daughter have completed your painting project, it’s a good idea to seal the items with a coat of clear acrylic. The paint can be scratched or chipped, so use either spray clear finish coat or a brush-on clear acrylic. You can use either satin finish or high gloss acrylic. Several thin coats, with an ample drying time between coats, is preferable to one heavy application of paint.
This set comes with only one paintbrush, so it’s not a bad idea to have a couple of extra brushes for your project.
Painting this tea set gives you an opportunity to teach how colors are made. Using the primary colors, you can show your daughter to make green from blue and yellow, purple from red and blue and other shades from dark to light.
The package also comes with instructions on how to use the products and ideas for painting designs on the pieces.
Things To Keep In Mind
This tea set is really very small. It’s scaled perfectly for 18-inch dolls, so keep in mind that painting these little pieces does take patience. Children younger than nine years may have a hard time with their dexterity, so giving this craft set to a six-year-old is not a real good idea.
Since the set only has four containers of paint, you may want to include other acrylic paints you have in your craft room, as well as additional paint brushes.
Using several brushes makes it easier to keep colors pure, so you don’t need to wash out the brush each time your child wants to use a different color.
