I’ve been using the Diva Puppies with some kids at school to work on multi-step activities, fine motor skills, and handwriting. Since it takes a bit of time to paint them and wait for them to dry, at school we have been working on them in half hour increments.So while we have been painting them, we have shared stories about dogs and are incorporating these cute little pups academically to develop the structure for a story that will include our puppies name, breed, and favorite activities while we then practice letter formation, sizing and handwriting to write a story.

Helpful hints:
1. Definitely add water to the acrylic paint as is recommended in the directions. We didn’t at first which can make it challenging to paint. Without the water added, it dries kind of shiny and rigid. When the water is added, it is easier to paint and once the brush makes contact with the puppy, it spreads much easier. Because we didn’t add any water to the paint during the first session, we actually began to run out of paint.

2. We didn’t have newspapers available, so we have been painting and storing them on paper plates, so we can transport them back and forth to our drying space.

3. When coloring the head of the puppy, have the child hold the metal bracket attached to the head in their opposite hand using their thumb and index finger. This will allow them to paint the head more carefully, accessing all sides with a simple rotation of the wrist.

4. There is only one paintbrush included in the kit, so if you were choosing to do this in a small group or at a party, than I would suggest having extra paint brushes available.

Creativity for Kids is allowing ToyQueen.com to giveaway 2 kits to 2 different readers! Contest ends Monday November 29th at 11:59 p.m. EST

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Creativity for Kids, a Faber Castell company provided this Diva Puppies Set free for purpose of review. The opinions expressed in this blog post are purely the bloggers own.

P: Pen! First we filled the small pen like dispenser with colored beads. I found it helpful to take a pair of tweezers from the medicine cabinet to help fill the dispenser, as the beads were very small, and sometimes challenging for the kids to pick up.

I: Index Finger! I encouraged the kids to hold the dispenser, as they should their pencil or marker, with three fingers in a tripod position. We used our index fingers to push down the button to release the beads onto the template.

X: Xylophone! Okay, so we didn’t make a xylophone, but you could easily do this with the create your own template feature online at www.pixos.com!

O: ORGANIZE! Make sure you are organized prior! This is definitely an activity that you may want to do sitting nearby your child to assist them as they need it. PixOs has a key on the back of each product, identifying whether the kit is easy, medium, or hard, so be mindful of this with younger children. There was a sorter in the box for the kit I reviewed, that allows you to separate out the beads by color, but there was not a cover to this particular container. I would encourage you to put the entire container in a sandwich size ziploc bag when you are finished to prevent the beads from escaping all over the place. However, after looking more at other great PixOs Products online, some kits do come complete with sorters that have a cover.

S: Spray Success! I successfully used this in a small group with two children at the same time. They alternated taking turns between filling the dispenser and placing the beads onto the template. We created one design in about 1/2 hour, then needed another 1/2 hour or so for it to dry. It says to let it dry for 10 minutes, but the kids got a little excited about the water spraying, so it took a little longer. We also needed to spray some of the designs twice as some of the outer beads did not attach when they were sprayed.

Other thoughts:

- Considering their price points, these would make excellent birthday and holiday gifts!

- Don’t stop with just making your creation! After spraying the design with water and waiting for it to dry, we made a story together about our creations and wrote them down in a journal to promote the academic skills of learning letter formation, as well as the visual spatial skills of writing with good spacing, formation and size of the letters. Children working on social skills and social language can have their PixOs interact with a friend’s creation.

- Parents consider PixOs for a fun activity over the summer. Teachers and therapists always encourage children to continue with their writing to keep their skills current, why not take a fun activity like PIxOs and bring it to the next level by promoting your child’s fine motor coordination and keeping their academic skills fresh!

Spinmaster provided a free sample of PixOs to facilitate my review. The opinions expressed in this review are purely the blogger’s own.  If you are wondering about the safety of these beads, visit www.pixos.com for all information. PixOs meet and exceed all current international toy safety standards.