Flower making kit — press machine, petals, stems and wrapping paper

A small hand press that turns flat petal shapes into layered flowers. Stack two or three petals on the plate, pull the handle down, and it comes out shaped and joined — then push it onto a stem and start the next one. Wrapping paper is in the box because the point is to give the bouquet away.

What it builds

• Following a build in order — choose, stack, press, fit to a stem, and repeat
• Two-handed work: one hand holds the stack square while the other pulls the press
• Colour choices with a consequence, since a bouquet is judged as a whole once it is wrapped
• Finishing something. A half-built flower is nothing; twelve of them wrapped in paper is a present.

Why we stock it

Most craft kits are consumed once and then they are packaging. This one has a machine in it, so the child is operating a tool rather than gluing down a pre-cut shape, and the same petals can come off and be pressed into a different flower. It also ends with something a six-year-old can hand to somebody, which is rarer in a toy than it sounds.

The details

Age

6 and up

Pieces

65

Machine

Hand press, no batteries

Petals

Multiple shapes and colours

Stems

Two lengths

Wrapping

Paper cone sheets included

Box

27 × 20 × 7 cm, carry handle

In the box

The press, the petal sheets, the stems and the wrapping paper, in a boxed tray with a handle on top. Nothing to charge and nothing to glue.

Care

Keep it dry — the petals and the wrapping paper are the parts that will not survive a spill. Wipe the press with a barely damp cloth. Work on a table rather than a rug, and put the petals back in the tray at the end, because the small ones are the first to go missing.