June 2021 Brand Ambassador of the Month, Find The Little Mind!

We are excited to feature our first Brand Ambassador of the Month @findthelittlemind! Lucy has a great Instagram page that provides endless inspiration for activities and projects. Read below to find out more about her & see some of her amazing projects:

Follow @Findthelittlemind

Q:Tell us a little about yourself! What is the inspiration behind your Instagram page?

I’m a Mum of a 4 year old and 7 year old who loves getting creative with her kids. I’m from England but now live in America. I didn’t find my passion for crafting and sensory play until I had my own children. My first-born was slower to develop his speech but I found that sitting and engaging with him over creative projects was a great way to encourage his vocabulary and confidence to communicate. I started my Instagram page when we moved from Thailand to America. I was in a new country and about to have my second child. I liked the idea of finding a fun creative community to gain inspiration from, and share ideas with. My page continued to grow as my children got older, with a focus on simple and engaging activities to help children develop fine motor skills, collaborative confidence, and also fundamental literacy and numeracy skills. Most importantly, my page was still about, and will always focus on, the ways I enjoy creating and playing together with my children. So much incredible learning and growth can happen through play!

Q: You are one of our original Brand Ambassadors, since the start of the program in 2019 and we are so grateful to have seen your page grow, and everything you offer to your followers! What made you want to become a Brand Ambassador for The Pencil Grip?

Thank you! I never really intended to be a Brand Ambassador as such but simply enjoyed using The Pencil Grip Products so much with my children that it was an added bonus to be able to test out new products and share our favorites regularly on our feed. When you are genuinely passionate about a product it is easy to support it, especially when it is a small business focusing on bringing creativity to a wide range of children.

Q: What is your favorite product of ours that you have tried? We would love to hear more about why this is your #1!

Oooo, this is a tough one! I have a few top choices and it’s a close call between the Kwik Stix and the Wonder Stix. The Kwik Stix are one of our most used art supplies at home. This year I also became a preschool teacher and they have heavily featured in my classroom too. I love them primarily because they leave bold and vibrant marks on the page, but they dry quickly. I started using them when my daughter was about 18 months old and she loved seeing the colors fill the page. Often with toddlers, and even preschoolers too, it can be hard to find a material that adds lots of color without needing a long time to dry. Paint gets messy and needs lots of time, whereas something like a crayon doesn’t leave a very bold mark. The Kwik Stix are that perfect mixture of bold colors and being mess-free! I will quickly give a mention to the Wonder Stix too because we love that they are so versatile. We’ve used them on wood, magnetic tiles, Christmas baubles and so much more!

Q: Tell us about your favorite project you have created using our products. You have done so many amazing ones, we want to know which creation stands out to you!

I have to say we recently did a really fun giant cardboard letter project using the Jumbo Stix and my preschooler had a blast! Quite often just using a unique canvas helps to really capture my children's’ creativity. The giant cardboard ‘L’ was filled with color and she now proudly displays it in her room. Likewise both my children really enjoyed making large cardboard shields and decorating them with Kwik Stix. We did this over a year ago and it is regularly requested as a repeat project!

Q: What’s next? Do you have plans for summer activities or projects we can look forward to?

We love to revisit old projects and do them again. Often as the children get older they enjoy using their more developed skills on a familiar project. One of our favorite summer projects is to set up our Connetix Tiles on our table outside and let the light shine through them. This creates a gorgeous mosaic on our table which we then trace and color in using our Thin Stix. I’m also planning a few fun puppet crafts as my kids always love making a craft we can then enjoy some story-telling with. The new Master Art Set of Kwik Stix will be perfect for this!

Be sure to click on the images to be brought to @findthelittlemind's full post to see how to create this crafts!