If you and your kids love adorable, mini items (and you’ve been looking for a new craft to try), it might be time to start collecting and building a universe of mini items! 

MGA Entertainment has created the MGA’s Miniverse line, which features various food- and lifestyle-inspired minis for you to make at home. Channel your inner crafter and collector and harness your love for tiny, mini versions of real items with the Make It Mini series. 

The Food Diner Series 2 Mini Collectibles, Food Cafe Series 2 Mini Collectibles, and Lifestyle Series 1 Mini Collectibles all feature different food- or lifestyle-themed minis that combine the adorable quality of mini items with the fun and surprise of mystery products. There are several different mini versions of food and household items that you can open, but you won’t know what you’re going to make until you unwrap the container. All of the “ingredients” for your food-inspired minis or components for your lifestyle minis (and the resin used to glue them together) come in different paper packages, all themed to that item.

There are two different versions of instructions; each mini comes with a colorful booklet with instructions given in the form of easy-to-follow images and steps, as well as a black-and-white booklet that gives more general, written instructions in English, Spanish, and French.

The Series 2 Make It Mini Food Diner Collectibles features several different mini food items, such as a banana split, a tiramisu, a birthday cake, fruit tartlets, ramen, a veggie pizza, and more. Some Mini’s might come with more “ingredients” than others, but they’re still equally as fun. For example, the ravioli comes with a plate and fork, pasta “sauce” (resin), pasta, parmesan cheese, and basil; the fruit tartlets come with a few more ingredients to configure, such as a double-stack serving tray, spoon, “cream” (resin), mini tart cups, strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries. 

The Series 2 Make It Mini Food Diner also includes a miniature lemon bundt cake. When making the lemon bundt cake, you’re given tweezers, a cake stand, a fork, “glaze” (resin), sprinkles, and a lemon. The instructions say to take the bundt cake out of the themed cover, pour the glaze over the cake, and use the tweezers to place the sprinkles on top and the lemons along the side. However, you can trust your creative muscles instead and use the sprinkles or lemons to decorate the cake however you like.

MGA’s Miniverse Make It Mini Lifestyle Series 1 Mini Collectibles includes mini candles, plants, fish bowls, hanging terrariums, and more. If you unbox the fish tank mini, you’ll discover some cute, themed details, such as resin in a bottle labeled “Fresh H2O, Aqua Sun Co.” and wrapping made of fake newspaper (The Mini Post). The tiny fish comes in an equally tiny package. From the packaging to the final product, creating the minis is an immersive experience! 

The MGA’s Miniverse Make It Mini Food Cafe Series 2 Mini Collectibles features popcorn, alphabet soup, a creamsicle float, yellow corn nachos, and more. There’s also small drinks, like orange and grape soda. The grape soda comes with a clear cup, straw, purple grape soda (resin), and a bag of ice cups. According to the instructions, mini-lovers should fill the cup with soda, add the ice with the tweezers, put the lid and straw in and let the resin harden. But, you could do a little resin then add some ice and repeat, or have a drink that’s mainly ice. 

For each Mini, the resin will need 5-10 minutes to set. Some minis require you to wait for it to set until you can add another piece with the tweezers, while others are finished once you put it away to harden. Using daylight or a UV light will help the resin harden. You might see a few bubbles appear when pouring or squeezing resin from the bottle, but there’s an easy fix! Just pop the bubbles with the tweezers. There are several precautions to take when dealing with resin, and they’re all addressed in the instructions. If you’re making minis with a kid, just make sure to keep an eye on them as they deal with the resin. Goggles and gloves are suggested but are not included. 

The containers are also convenient, as they double as storage and a place to showcase your mini once it’s made. MGA’s Miniverse Make it Mini Food Diner Series comes with a mini table that you can place your food on. 

Make It Minis can help refine fine motor skills, concentration skills, patience, and reading comprehension. Kids must use tweezers to carefully place parts of the mini together, as the components are very, very tiny. Kids must also concentrate on the task at hand before moving to the next step, as it can take a moment to get the pieces together properly (again, since they are so tiny). This will teach kids how to be patient, especially if they receive a mini that requires them to wait for the resin to dry before moving to the next step. You might also witness a boost in confidence as they build something from start to finish. Taking individual pieces and making a larger product successfully can have an impact on a child’s self esteem, so this product is good practice for setting out and accomplishing a task. 

If your kid loves watching people unbox and build Minis on TikTok, have them explain to you what they are doing as if they are behind the camera. This will push your kid to think through their actions and provide a cause and effect for each step (and if you don’t feel like making one yourself, it gives you an excuse to sit in the role of captivated audience member). If you really want to use the power of imagination, you could even purchase several different mini’s and create your own combination mini’s, Frankenstein style. 

The minis come with small pieces and resin, so they are recommended for kids ages 8 and up, and adult supervision is required; it’s also maybe good to briefly remind your kids that while it may look delicious, it’s not real food. Besides, sitting around the table and making mini food and home items is the perfect time to bond as a family! Or, if you don’t have kids, it’s a great activity to work on as you chat with friends.