Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I am a working mom with a very active 2.5 year old and a husband who travels >50% time. This means even though I consider myself creative, I appreciate the ability to whip out a pre-packaged craft project that engages my little one without a) pre-planning/looking up ideas online; b) taking her to buy supplies (in small quantities) for similar projects; c) any consideration of weather or time of the day. Sure, there will be parents out there who take a look at the content and think it's nothing special. Well, I have two comments: 1) many of us wouldn't consider most activities for a 2-3 year old special but they are nevertheless fun and age-appropriate. 2) When my brain is fried from work but I'd rather not park my kid in front of the TV so that I can decompress, this is a fun way to spend time with my little one. Price wise, I consider Amazon's price reasonable. I probably would have to spend more if I gather the supplies myself and would have the hassle of dealing with all the leftovers. Personal reasons and pricing aside, I am actually quite impressed with the quality of the stuff inside. The quantity for each project is either good or on the generous side. Everything is bright/colorful and printed on quality paper. The projects create surprisingly little or no mess. All age appropriate -- some clearly require a longer attention span than my kid has or greater dexterity. That's ok; I help her with some stuff or let her finish the project in a couple of sittings. I can also try to challenge her, making up related stories/asking her decoration preferences while we do these projects and encourage her to keep at it a little longer to expand her attention span. These projects would work best for 2.5-4 year olds. I like the individual packaging for most of the projects. That way, I can efficiently take one out at a time w/o letting my kid sees the rest and get distracted. There are only two things that I would change: the box came with just one instruction sheet that shows how some of the projects are put together. For those of us who like reading instruction manuals, the only way to get an idea of what the final product look like are the images on the big box. Like I said, my kid gets distracted and wants whatever she sees, so I would have preferred not to have the box in front of her (albeit with all the content removed) while we do a project. Second, I noticed that I did not get one of the projects pictured on the box but something else of the same type of activity. That's kind of a disappointment because I really like the fish tissue art instead of a star tissue art; plus, I believe in you-buy-what-you-see. I don't know how frequently Alex products make substitutions like this. This was a worthwhile investment. I love seeing my kid getting so excited during and after finishing a project. So proud and eager to hang up her latest masterwork!