Whale Diamond Painting Kit for Kids

This one is small: a framed 15 cm square, sized for the wall above a bed or the gap next to a light switch, and a kids diamond painting kit is a strange thing to describe by its wall placement until you have hung one.

The whale is cheerful rather than accurate, all curve and grin, floating in ocean blues that run from pale surface water down to deeper shades underneath. Blue is a forgiving first subject, because the eye reads a near-miss in a run of blues as water rather than as an error. The white display frame is fitted before it ships, so the finished piece is ready to hang or stand the same day the last gem goes on.

Size is the argument for this one. Six inches square is a craft a child can hold in one hand, carry to the sofa, and actually complete inside a week, which is not true of the big canvases the grown-ups work on.

The details

• Framed canvas, approx. 15 x 15 cm (6 x 6 in)
• Pre-printed adhesive canvas set in a white display frame
• Sparkling resin diamond gems in ocean blues
• Diamond applicator pen, tray and wax included
• Step-by-step and mess-free; finished art is ready to hang or stand

Straight talk

Roughly three to five hours of placing. Small canvases mean small gems sitting close together, so this asks for a bit more fine motor control than the size suggests, and a tray plus an adult nearby is the sensible setup. It is a kit to make, not a finished picture.

Then the whale hangs above the bed, still grinning, still in the shallow end.