I thought this was a latch hook kit... it says latch hook right on the listing. Instead this kit is really just looping yarn through tiny holes with a really small hook without knotting. It was REALLY difficult for my 7 year old to get the the loops through the holes and to make them even and not pull out the previous loops. We spent most of the time fighting the yarn through the holes. The end product in the picture looks really cute but it is frustrating. This kit says 8+ and I think that age is right or should be geared towards even older as we found this kit quite difficult for my 7 year old.Latchkits Yarnimals Penguin-- Loop Your Own Plush Penguin-- Latchhook Craft Kit -- Make Your Own Stuffed Animal Toy -- Ages 8+

I really wanted to love this Yarnimals kit. It's so, so cute in the box art, and I was excited to craft a penguin friend. I struggled with rating something so cute so poorly, but this really is a poorly conceived craft I think would frustrate most people - let alone most children in the target age range.On the plus side, I really appreciate that a little heart charm is provided for you to practice before tackling the larger kit, and the design really is totally adorable.On the minus side, though, is basically everything else. The biggest issue is that there's no way to lock the loops in place, so if you accidentally pull in the wrong place, you can undo all of your hard work with a single snag. This makes making progress really frustrating.Compounding the issue is that the included yarn just isn't very good quality. It is loosely spun and frays really easily, and the latch hook tool provided is very narrow - so unless you're extremely deliberate about hooking the yarn onto the hook, you often end up snagging the yarn and pulling only half the strand through. You could try to manipulate it more carefully, but then you run the risk of pulling out the work you've already done if you aren't holding onto it to keep it in place.After quite a bit of effort, I was eventually able to get into somewhat of a rhythm, but I felt like I needed three hands to make it work. I was also constantly trying to adjust the loops I'd already done to keep them somewhat even.Looking forward to the main penguin craft, I liked the 3D mold, but there isn't any sort of guide on which colors to use where - just a general zone chart. I really wish the mold had the colors painted on, or at least some sort of indication of the boundary molded in so I know where to stop one stitch and where to start the next - it was too confusing and unclear to count effectively, so it kind of ends up being stitch-by-feel.I think you could probably complete this kit with infinite patience and perhaps a bit of off-instruction-book knotting to hold things in place - but the reality is that this kit would be highly, highly frustrating for most kids in the target age range. I have fond memories of latchhook rugs I completed as a kid, and this should have been a similarly cute craft with a modest size for little attention spans - instead, it's an exercise in utter frustration.

A great idea in theory, but it just falls flat of what it could have been. This is not a latch hook kit, it's just a crochet needle you pull loops of yarn through a hole with. There is no way to control the size. By the time you get from one side to the other, you are likely to find one side much shorter or longer than the other, and will have to start over.Speaking of starting over, you're going to have to do that a lot as is. Nothing holds the yarn in place as you pull loops, and a single snag can pull out a large section. Yes, even after you have fully finished, if it snags a single loop, you have a large ugly ruined spot.It never shows you a single picture from the side, and that's because it's weirdly flat and so you'll want to make sure you only look at it from straight ahead. You can, with patience finish it and make this product look good, but you can't play with it after, just put it on a shelf so it doesn't snag. I gotta give it something for the fact you can get it to look like it does in the pictures.

The idea is cute and maybe sometime we will make it but it’s too difficult for my 8 year old and usually she is really good at crafty things. I got frustrated as an adult and gave up.

I got this for my 7-year-old daughter who is wonderful at arts and crafts and it was way too difficult. It is not an actual latch-hook, just a knitting hook with balls of yarn. I ended up doing it for her and it took a long time. I also had to purchase two kits to have enough yarn for both front and back. I will say it is cute and soft when finished, but would not buy again.

So cute but extremely difficult to use, and I’m a crafter who has done a variety of crochet/latchhooking/punchneedling/etc! Most of the positive reviews are fr the panda, so wondering if a less slippery yarn made it work? Also the yarn didn’t come in a ball or cake so we dealt with a lot of tangles. Also, the design isn’t printed on the plastic form. Sadly we’ll be sending it back after lots of trying but no success.