Purchase any 5 of our printable activity sheets and you will get the cheapest item free.
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OUR STORY
Hi, I'm Eleanor.
If I had to introduce myself in one word, I would say I am a maker.
I grew up in a house where we made things. I learnt to sew and to knit; to saw, hammer and build. My Mum baked bread and we grew vegetables. We learnt to fix broken things. I loved to spend my days painting, drawing and making. All of these skills made me who I am and ignited my love for craft.
This early creative family life led me to study a BA in Jewellery Design at Middlesex University and an MA in Textiles at Goldsmiths College in London. From there I built a 15-year career in the fashion industry, working as a freelance designer for a range of major fashion companies in London, Paris and Melbourne, as well as launching my own jewellery brand. Throughout this time, the focus of my design work was on creating beautifully hand-crafted jewellery.
In 2018, after the birth of my second child, I made the move away from the fashion industry into the paint-covered world of children's crafts. Having children isn't something often mentioned in a CV or biography (probably because the unpaid carework of women is not valued by our patriarchal capitalist society!) but of all my past qualifications and experiences, becoming a mother has had by far the most influence on who I am today. It has shaped my values, given me so much to learn, and allowed me to delve deeply into my creative roots, taking joy in the simple pleasure of squishing paint between my fingers or putting pen to paper just because it's fun. This growth as a parent of two young children is what led me to start a children's craft business, and it shaped that business's ethos and values from the very beginning.
That's how Mini Mad Things came to be. At its heart, it's all about exploring your imagination, encouraging creativity and, most importantly, play. After all, creativity is play. A paint swirl becomes a dragon soaring through the night sky. A pine cone becomes a fairy house. A simple cardboard box can take you on a wild adventure across the seven seas. Inside each child is a world of creativity, where even the most common objects become magical inventions and every pen stroke holds a new idea.
Through my range of fun and accessible printable activity sheets and craft project ideas, I aim to help children delve into their imagination and explore their own artistry. Creative practices offer so much opportunity for learning and growth, for
children and adults alike. They're fantastic for developing fine motor skills, strengthening little hands for writing and building hand-eye coordination. But art and craft also give us a space to develop social skills, express our emotions and make sense of the world around us.
Mini Mad Things values inclusivity and caring for our planet, and I offer a range of activity ideas and colouring sheets exploring social justice and climate action themes. In all my creative practices, I aim to be mindful of waste and care for our natural environment.
The printable activity sheets I create, with their simple and engaging activities, make creative practice accessible to a wide range of communities and spaces. With just a piece of paper and basic art supplies, you can delve into a famous artist's work, a STEM idea or an imaginary world. It fills me with so much joy to see the activities I design being used in libraries and community spaces all around the world!
