Activity set:Creative Art Bag: Wood Projects

The Creative Art Bag was the iconic first product of Creative Art Activities, Inc., a Cleveland-based toy company. Introduced at the International Toy Fair in 1978., the Creative Art Bag launched the Creativity for Kids brand and introduced the company's message of "encouraging children's natural creativity." It helped establish the the creative activities category in the toy industry. Previously, a limited range of craft project kits presented children with opportunities to cut and paste, sew, work with leather and wood, and other comparable crafts. All the kits felt limiting and came in drab packaging that was unlikely to appeal to many kids. By contrast, the Creative Art Bag provided open-ended materials and fun projects so children could experiment and make unique, individualized creations. It came packaged in reusable, memorable burlap bags (a form and material very characteristic of the late 1970s) with everything included, another first. Creative Art Activities went on to create thousands of creative products over the following years, operating under the Creativity for Kids brand. In 2013, the firm launched the "creativity comeback" with its program based on the idea that creativity can make anything possible. After learning about the alarming nationwide decline in children's creativity scores, the firm decided address that situation directly. That determination resulted in the Creativity Can, which is basically a miniature version of the original Creative Art Bag.