Crayola Color Wonder Disney Princess Coloring Book & Markers - For Your Little Princess!
Written: Jul 06 '07
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Pros: Easy to use, no mess
Cons: None for us
The Bottom Line: The Bottom Line is Crayola makes a nice princess variety with this set.
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| KMINER's Full Review: Crayola Color Wonder Disney Princess Coloring Book... |
My 2 kids love coloring, and they both vary in ages, interests and ability levels. My 20 month old is addicted to crayons - ever since a friend bought us a pack and coloring books for a trip we were going to take. I was becoming more and more concerned, not about her scribbling, but more about where she was trying to color ... the paper, but then the table, the TV, the couch, you name it. I wanted to encourage her interest, but I wanted to do it more safely and with less stress for me.
Some on-line Epinions parents suggested I check out the Color Wonders product line. Though I had vaguely seen these products in stores and on commercials, I admit I never really had checked them out. I thought it was just special paper and markers to use ... but I didn't realize there was pre-printed,themed coloring sets as well.
For our daughter we purchased the Crayola Color Wonder Disney Princess Coloring Book & Markers set. We thought the pictures had a wide variety and were engaging - though she didn't know any of the "princesses" by name at this age we thought this was the most appropriate out of the character sets that they had.
Product information:
"Perfect for your artistic little princess, this portable Crayola Color Wonder Coloring Book and Markers featuring the Disney Princesses offers a "no mess" activity for children and requires little to no supervision. The colors only appear on Color Wonder™ paper.
Manufacturer's Age: 3 years and up"
This kit comes with a 15 page spiral bound coloring book of characters and scenes from various Disney movies, all featuring princesses . The pictures are very true representations of the movies, and very identifyable. Each picture is printed on Color Wonder paper with black outlined image to color in. The images are only on the front sides of each paper.
The pictures vary and so there is a wide variety, all relating to familiar (to me) movies. My daughter does not recognize or comment on any of the pictures, nor appear to have any favorites (being more of an Elmo and Care Bears kind of girl at this age). Jasmine (Aladdin), Cinderella, Belle (Beauty and the Beast), Arielle (The Little Mermaid), Sleeping Beauty, and Snow White are all depicted in various poses and "scenes". Also included are a few very recognizable characters from the related movie (for example the clock is on one page in the "Belle" section). Each movie is grouped together, so that there are 3-5 coloring pages of each movie.
The markers came housed in a paper marker case, similar to one bought for most Crayola markers. Personally I would have loved some sort of more durable container or plastic, but alas. As typical for Color Wonder markers, there is a pack of 6, each in a different color. The colors are chosen I think to be "typical" ones for coloring scenes for this type of pictures - there is a pink, a light and dark blue, a brown, a yellow, etc. These are definately the lightest and most pastel of the sets of Color Wonder markers we have. Having owned other kits by now in addition to this Princess set, I have noticed that each kit comes with differing markers based on what the kid might be coloring (for example my son owns the Cars set and there are darker colors with his set - including a dark blue, vibrant red, and black). Since any other Color Wonder marker would work with this kit, and since we have other kits, we personally have a wide variety of marker colors to choose from ... but if you purchase just this kit rest assured that you will have the main 6 colors you'd need to color in at each page.
Color Wonders markers are set up on a "delay" - meaning that the marker tips themselves are clear, and you'll need to begin coloring in the area in the picture first and then the color appears about 5-8 seconds after it is applied. It just appears in the color you are using, and it only appears in the spots you've colored - so in that respect they are like typical markers. But this type does not have immediate/instant results ... kids should be prepared to see "just white" for a few seconds while the marker reacts to the paper. This was noticed by my son (who is 7) but for this kit for my daughter she could care less.
Also the markers will not mark on skin, clothing, walls, and the like. My daughter was the main reason I purchased these kits - my son at age 7 knows how to act appropriately with coloring materials. Because my 20 month old likes to "color on anything" I really wanted something she could use that I wouldn't have to grab her every 2 seconds and redirect back to the paper. I didn't want coloring to become a struggle or battle or series of "No!"'s. And I didn't want to be washing up tables, clothing, or little hands after each coloring session. I will say that these markers have never marked on anything but the paper -- so in that regard they are highly effective!
The pages are not a "color by number" set, so there is no prescribed color to color anything. An older child naturally has an idea of what would be a typical color or color palette for each page - but at 20 months my daughter just scribbles away on any old page, in any old section. She makes no attempts to color in the lines or to use particular colors were appropriate. To a degree the child can color "outside the lines", but again since the picture area is "waiting" for the color, certain areas will remain white no matter what. Within the designated areas on her coloring book you can see lots of scribble marks and repeating or overlapping colors. We've noticed we can "go over" her scribbles often with a similar or darker color to get the overall "completed picture" effect.
Even with all of her repeated coloring she's really only "ripped" through one tiny section of one picture. The paper seems designed to "take a beating" and hold up overall very well. It doesn't seem to get saturated with her repeated attempts to use various markers in the same exact spot. Some pictures have a very curious "tie-die" effect due to her overlapping so many colors - Sleeping Beauty, for example, has a long flowing mane of yellow, blue, and pink hair which is quite unique for her character!
On each page is a hidden detail. It's always in a white space and it's usually in an area you wouldn't "think" to color in - for example the "dead" white space above a picture of a princess. Though this thrilled my son, my daughter could care less. Still it's fun for my son and I to look for them as we help her color in her pictures. I personally love that the hidden graphics relate really well to the picture on that page. (Arielle has a seashell theme around her, Belle and the Beast seen has stars up in the sky, etc)
As we've colored with this kit more and more we've realized something else as well. In our regular coloring we've not really noticed where these hidden graphics might be, and have been pleasantly surprised when we've found them. As we were coloring one afternoon though in front of our large bay window, we noticed in "natural" light you can see all of the white markings of "where to color" ... including the hidden images!
Overall we've really gotten a lot of use out of the Crayola Color Wonder Disney Princess Coloring Book & Markers and plan to purchase other kits appropriate for our kid's ages. I wish in her case there were more preschool centered books - Care Bears, Elmo or Blue's Clues would have been more interactive for her!
Our Cars Color Wonder set
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 7.00
Type of Toy: Arts and Crafts
Age Range of Child: 12 to 36 Months
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