Awesome Hamster Crafts

Gr 3–5—Eleven crafts per volume let readers pamper, play with, and celebrate their animal companions. This well-designed series provides amply illustrated instructions for kids to decorate a picture frame, make a toy, or create a practical item, such as a chew ball to keep a pet bunny from gnawing on all the furniture. Each book includes a technique section at the front (some overlap between volumes), and every craft includes a suggested variation. Techniques and materials are pet-friendly—cardboard or repurposed fabric is sewn, painted, braided, or glued with nontoxic glue. Sidebars reveal genuinely interesting tidbits with a little fancy vocabulary tossed in (bunnies are "crepuscular"). Dog is the standout here, with a real dog modeling some of the crafts (most of the other photos of animals and children are stock).