The $25 Art Gift That Keeps My Kid Creating for Hours

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I can remember the day Dav Pilkey’s Captain Underpants comics made their way into our household. I was admittedly hesitant (there’s a lot of mischief and potty humor!), but my daughter and husband out-ruled me. Now, 11 books later, we are up to our ears in comics. We’ve delved beyond our underwear-clad hero into comics about dog-headed cop vigilantes, babysitters’ little sisters, and more. My love of graphic novels runs strong too, so I’m in full support of the genre.

Then I noticed that my daughter had begun to abscond with my notebooks, drawing little squares that she’d fill superhero stories into. (Talk about adorable!) She leaned over her homemade comic book every night, sounding out words alongside her cape-flying stick figures. I was pleasantly surprised to see how engaged she was! As a new reader/writer, she’s learning all the best parts of creative storytelling, without any dreaded worksheets. 

So when I saw this incredible comic book kit from Kid Made Modern, I jumped at the chance to try it out with my author-in-training. We loved how each kit includes two books pre-printed with comic book squares. There were also 10 fine-point markers; stamps and stamp pads with exclamations like “Pow!” and different pop-art patterns; and stencils for speech bubbles, stars, and other cool designs. My daughter hunkered down right away to begin her first comic, about a supergirl who saves the tooth fairy from certain peril. (Later, she told me she would be mass-producing her epic for fifty cents apiece.) 

I loved watching her get so much fulfillment and inspiration independently, creating her own world full of empowering heroes without any help at all. Afterward, we read her comic together and talked about new characters or plot points to add. It’s both a solo activity and one that gives the whole family joy — a total win. 

What I also love is that the comic book kit is endlessly customizable, so she can start another comic book with mini-stories, or she can do one epic sprawling masterpiece. If you have siblings, they can each work on their own book or trade back and forth for a tag-team situation. And this kit is so portable that you can take it to a restaurant, on a trip, or even to relatives’ houses for holidays. If you have an art-loving kiddo, this is the kit they need. It provides hours of fun and imagination (screen-free too), and the end result is something everyone can be proud to look at! 

Pro tip: A completed, kid-made comic also makes for the most adorable grandparent gifts ever. 

Get it here: Comic Book Kit, $24.99 from Kid Made Modern

The Comic Book Kit was gifted by Kid Made Modern, with no promise of editorial coverage. All of the opinions stated in this article are our own, and we will only recommend products we truly love.