Our Kids Cast And Recreated Their Own Hands In Stone With Markybox

This is a partnered post with Markybox, all expierences are our own.

I think an important learning tool for children is using their hands to make their own art and craft products. From looking around for materials outside to subscription craft boxes from Marky, I find it easy as a parent to get my kids to be artistic. While school is great for learning, I find these days’ art and hands on projects are not as important as when I was a child.

I know many of the art and craft projects I learned as a child have proved to be invaluable as an adult. From being creative, to being able to use my hands to complete physical tasks, it is super important that I help my children develop excellent dexterity early on in life. While painting and coloring is fun, there are so many other ways to use our hands to create art.

One of my favorites is for them to actually create something that is more than 2 dimensional. From camping trips with fort building, to building in the sand, it’s fun for them to really build with their hands. We were recently sent a Markybox crafting kit from Marky. This kit was something that I could do with my children and really teach them as we worked together. My 11-year-old loved watching how the casting process worked.

The Markybox is a simply monthly subscription membership that delivers fun and creative projects to our front door. The projects are more than a roll of paper and some crayons, these are full on art studio projects. Our first delivery was for this really fun CASTING project that created a mold of her hand. The project box came with enough materials to do 2 hands do we also had fun with our 7-year-old showing her the magic of casting.

The Markybox came with every supply we needed, including safety equipment, and even a materials data sheet. While I let her take control so she could really see her efforts come to life, I was right there helping her but also explaining to her how the process works. Casting is such a vital part of our lives, that now it’s fun to talk about how different materials, structures and even art can be made.

She had fun casting her hand on the Alginate, which is the material that creates the initial hand mold. After letting it set and having Kaila slowing remove her hand, she had a mold of her hand. It didn’t take very long to set, so this was easy for our 7-year-old to also make one. After letting it sit we began to prepare the Hydro-stone powder. This mix is what actually created the casting. I let Kaila take control with mixing in a well ventilated area and pouring the mix.

After several hours, our stone was set and our mold was ready to be set free. It was simple and Kaila had fun seeing her hand come to form. After peeling back the rubbery Alginate, she had her casted hand and thought it was really neat see her efforts and materials make something special.

Not only do we have a fun piece of unique art, but we also have a casting of our child’s hand.

To make it even more special she painted it with a brionze paint and it looks like a real bronze casted replica of her little hand!

Looking for a unique project to do with the kids? Markybox is a great monthly service to send to the grandparents or to keep your little ones learning throughout the year. I loved art as a child and all the classes I took, and with schools in decline of art focused classes and projects it is super important that we teach our children as much as we can.

The Markybox, was launched on May 22 at the Hammer Museum for the annual Kids Art Museum Project (K.A.M.P.) fundraiser. Comedian and actor Will Ferrell calloborated with artist Glenn Kaino to create a limited-edition sculpture of Will Ferrell’s hand. The artwork is available on Marky.com and proceeds help support free family programming.

Check out Marky’s website for more about projects and support the arts. Proceeds help support free family programming at the Hammer Museum at UCLA.