I had an early interest in houses and architecture, and now I still love good design and creative interiors. I would have loved the stencils in this set, and may have saved some heavy lifting if I had used them to plan my bedroom rearranging instead of winging it!
Students are first introduced to several periods in architectural design in a brief & colorful, kid-friendly booklet (16 pp). Classical, Romanesque, gothic, renaissance, baroque, Georgian, neoclassical, beaux arts, Bauhaus, art deco, expressionism, deconstructivism, structural expressionism and critical regionalism all have a short blurb and an illustration of a famous building in that style. You then look at structural elements and a timeline before you are encouraged to have a go at an original design. In the kit is a color poster of all of these famous buildings, great for a quick reference as you are in design-mode! A set of 6 stencils are guides for your student. They are made of sturdy, flexible, clear plastic and have elements like turrets, windows, domes, ornamental doors & ornaments for the outside, plus interior stuff like furniture, closets and sinks. A set of 8 colored pencils and a tablet of graph paper get your kiddos started. They can then make a large exterior and a large interior on the poster-sized paper in the kit. Two sheets of patterned paper have 6 designs of wood-look floors, tile & fabric textures to add some flair. While small children would have some trouble using the stencils, they can still design an interior and exterior in their own style. This would be a fun addition to any study in history or architecture, art or design. It has enough guidance to get you started and enough openness to let you be creative.
