New upcoming Craft for kids - AmiGami - Made by You by Mattel Review

Ok we all know how exciting is to get something we just know the little ones are going to love and so when I was asked to review the new upcoming craft toy by Mattel, Ii certainly jumped at the chance knowing y daughter aged 8yrs would love it.

AmiGami - Made by You is a new Creative and imaginative toy that is aimed to encourage the child to use their imagination and get creative by sticking, curling and designing your very own AmiGami pet.

AmiGami is not yet out but will be available in stores such as Sainsbury, John Lewis, Argos, Tesco, Toys r Us, Amazon around January  and this particular model will be priced at £10.99.

In the AmiGami range, there will be many little critters to get creative with ranging from little mice to cheeky monkeys, pretty pony's, pattering parrots, posing pandas and even pink little pigs.

What you get -

• 1 plastic AmiGgami  - we were supplied with the Giraffe
• 30 AmiGami Paper Parts
• 55 Reusable stickers
• 1 Curling Tool 
• 6 pins & caps

I love that the AmiGami is based around the traditional paper folding hobby or Origami in the respect that it is all about creating something wonderful with nothing but paper (but not as difficult)  the only difference is no folding needed just a child's imagination and some clips instead to secure them .

The instructions are very easy to follow but you don't really need them, its all about the child doing it all their own way, they simple show you how to curl the AmiGami Paper to make a pretty curly tail for the pet or some whispy curly hair to give that cute little friend some style.

The instructions also show the child how to use the pins and caps which come provided. 

Drew, aged 8yrs old was lucky enough to be the first child to get to enjoy this little pet and her excitement to get started had to be kept waiting as we had a busy weekend but as soon as the table was clear on Sunday while I was making our Sunday Roast, she got it all set up ready to get creative.

Drew loved that she could be left be and I had not had to sit with her . No scissors or sharp implements for me to worry about .

She popped all of the AmiGami paper pieces out of the sheet and started applying them in her own little way to the Giraffe.

I have to be honest , I was not actually aware it was a Giraffe until afterwards and I read the box it came in.

She seemed to have fun with the stickers and curling tool mostly until she realised the AmiGami came with clips which she thought were like little hair clips .

The Giraffe had 5 holes to add the clips and AmiGami designs to - 

• 2 Ears (or pony tails as my daughter called them)
• 1 area for a Bow tie or neck jewellery
• 1 area for the pet tail
• 1 area on top of the head to place some hair or in my daughters case, she put a pretty flower hat.

Drew spent around 50 minutes playing with this and not only had she made one design but then decided to take it all apart and make another and today she has taken it to school to show her friends and teacher.

I asked Drew a few questions - 

Mam - Do you like the AmiGami ?
Drew - Yes , it is fun .

Mam - What do you like most about the AmiGami?
Drew - I like all the stickers and the different AmiGami pieces .

Mam - What were you thinking when you maked this ?
Drew - I wanted to make a pretty pet with pony tails like I am wearing .

Mam - Was there anything you found difficult or did not like?
Drew  - No it was easy and I would like some more please (she flutters her eyelashes at me with a widened grin).

Mam - Will you play with it or forget about it?
Drew -  Play with it in my doll house, mam can I have the pink one please and that one too? (she points to every other pet on the packaging).

For me, the AmiGami was a winner and very much worth the money.
Drew spent ages putting her design together and again played with it again last night as well as taking it to her school to show her proud creation to her friends .

The packaging was minimal and there were so many spares to keep in a little tub for later. I would have liked to have had a little pouch or something to keep them in but lucky for us we have a craft box so they were added to the stack.

I could see the concentration of thought going into Drew making her little pet perfect , I could see how much effort she was putting into making it look just right and I would certainly treat her to more when they are released.

What do you think about creative toys that get the child's imagination going, will you be picking one of these up?