RoseArt: The Laptop Art Desk Looks Great BUT......
Written: Mar 18 '06
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Portable.
Cons: Falls apart.
The Bottom Line: A pencil box filled with art supplies would be better than a useless product like this desk.
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| tandaw's Full Review: RoseArt Laptop Art Desk Assortment |
The Rose Art Lap Top Art Desk looked awesome in the bright colorful packaging. The box boasts of containing over 70 art supplies and activities and appears to be the ideal travel toy for a budding artist.
The desk itself has two compartments. The first holds a box of 12 colored pencils and a box of 8 crayons. The boxes fit neatly into their designated spaces and are held in place with a white elastic band that runs the length of the desk. The crayons and colored pencils stand up to the quality I expect from Rose Art. The problem is that they have to be kept in the boxes they come in if they are to be stored in the space provided for them. Those of us with kids know that many times these type boxes are torn when they are first opened and certainly the majority of the time they are torn within a few days.
The first compartment also holds a set of 12 markers. Seven broad line markers, 3 stamper markers and 2 dry erase markers. The markers do snap into place but once they have been taken in and out just a few times the slots seem to widen and the markers fall out. You will also find a small eraser in this area for the wipe of board. In addition to the markers there are 2 pieces of chalk that also work on the wipe off board. Don’t expect the chalk to be anywhere close to the colorful picture shown on the front of the box though. The chalk barely shows up at all.
The wipe off board doubles as the ‘desk’ part. It is where you lay the 3 enclosed wipe off activity pages and the activity book or sketch pad that are also included. You will find these items in the second compartment which is a storage area. There is enough room in the storage are to include your own notepad, coloring book and other art supplies.
The desk we chose is purple on the outside while the inside is all white. According to the package the desk has a soft grip handle. This is a piece of plastic that covers the rounded handle. I am not sure exactly what is soft about it. I was expecting something that a soft foam covering or a different material at least. You can is easily carry the desk from one place to another though so it is as portable as what I was looking for. It has a contoured design unlike some of the square art kits from other brands. The rounded design gives it a clean and modern appearance that is more pleasing to the eye than the square. It also seems to be more comfortable to little laps than a wider square box design.
The desk has a one snap closure on the storage area and another one for the lid. This locks everything in place so you should be organized and ready to go. My children however could not open the desk once it was latched. I tried to open it for them but finally passed it on to Dad. He got the thing open but when he did the whole lid came off the snap lock hinges. It is a pain to snap back together and if you are driving like we were it is not a good idea to be trying to put it back together.
As for the 70+ supplies and activities the box claims to have you would have to count the 1 page of 4 wipe off activities and each page of the activity book and each page of the sketch pad to find them. I am not even sure it adds up to 70 even counting them that way.
The age recommendation of the kit is ages 4 and up. Considering how difficult it is to open and the problem of the drawing and coloring supplies falling out I just can’t see it. Personally not only do I think the recommend age should be raised but I also fill the company should redesign the desk or take it off the market altogether.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 19.97
Type of Toy: Arts and Crafts
Age Range of Child: 3 to 5 Years
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Epinions.com ID:
tandaw
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Member: Tania Dawson-Ellison
Location: Clanton,AL
Reviews written: 68
Trusted by: 19 members
About Me:
WAHM of Alex and Hannah , avid scrapbooker and a freebies/refund lover.
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