When Pokemon was all the rage and anything related to it was a hot commodity I laughed at the idea of a Pokemon Activity Desk. There was no way I was going to spend $8.99 on something that was worth about $4.99 but I changed my tune when KB Toys had these on clearance. My youngest son is still an avid Pokemon enthusiast and since he rarely expresses an interest in anything craft related, I figured I’d give this a try. After having it in the house for some time now I can honestly say that I am glad I didn’t pay the full retail price for this since it hardly seems worth it for what you get.

Pokemon Activity Adventure Desk

The premise of this activity desk is simple, a roll of printed Pokemon paper is loaded at the top of the desk and slides through the body of it to the base where it can be ripped off when you are done coloring. The paper loads smoothly however since it is tightly wound while sitting in the package you may have to fight with it to lay flat once it has been loaded into the desk window. This was the number one complaint from my son and other than unrolling the paper and letting it “relax” – we found no other cure for this issue.

The desk itself is made of plastic with sections at the top for storage of the markers [in an upright position] and the package of crayons. One complaint I had was the fact that once the box of crayons is destroyed, there’s no way to keep the crayons organized. The slot is just for the box, not the individual crayons. I have seen the desks in both red and blue so there is a little room for choice, but not much.

Battle Scenes

The term “battle scenes” is a little misleading in the sense that not all the scenes are of Pokemon characters doing battle. Some are of the more popular characters such as Charizard, Poliwhirl, Squirtle, Psyduck and of course Pikachu. Separating some of the scenes are small banners that features mini scenes that my son found most enjoyable to color. Ripping the pages apart once you are done with them is a chore and it’s best to use scissors to do this. Overall the scenes aren’t extremely violent – nothing more than what you see on the television show or in the films.

Crayons & Markers

The 8 pack of crayons you receive with this pack is rather cheap. With all the different colored Pokemon featured on the pages you will have a hard time getting them colored accurately with what you are given. The colors included are black, blue, red, yellow, green, orange, brown and dark blue. These are the basic colors that you receive in most small crayon packages but for older kids that want to be as accurate as possible you will need to break out the Crayola 64 count box to give them enough variety to work with.

The markers are nice, but much like the crayons you will have a hard time getting the figures colored correctly. The six colors provided are blue, green, red, yellow, brown and orange. Not that much variety in the color choices so once again, you might have to break out markers you have on hand or deal with very boring looking creatures. Two of the markers in this set were dried out [blue and yellow] so we had no choice but to break out the trusty Crayola markers and pitch the RoseArt markers. This was more than likely due to the fact that they were sitting on the shelf for a long time.

The Refill Paper

At this point in time I am starting to think this doesn’t even exist. I’ve seen the refill packs for Bob The Builder, Hello Kitty and Barbie, but never the Pokemon pack. In all honesty, you are better off picking up the refill packs than the actual activity desk if you already have crayons and markers on hand. If you are really stuck and your child is sporting a pout face you can download and print images for them to color. You may need to trim the edges of the paper slightly so that it will load into the slot of the desk without ripping or jamming.

Age Range

The packaging states that this is suitable for ages five and up and that seems to be a good suggestion but each child is different so use your own judgment. My biggest concern would be with the desk itself. It is somewhat sturdy but will more than likely break if stepped on by accident. This could present a problem if the edge gets cracked and a childs skin gets pinched by it.

The Bottom Line

If you come across this at a reduced price or possibly on clearance and have a Pokemon lover – this might just be worth picking up. If you come across the refill packs of paper and have crayons and markers on hand, you can save a little extra money by just purchasing the refill instead of the actual activity desk – which gets little use without the refill packs. After my son went through the roll of Pokemon paper I started to look for blank rolls of art or craft paper that could be used as a suitable replacement. I found several that were about a half-inch shorter than the original roll – but overall it worked great for doodling or writing messages.

This product shouldn’t be confused with the Pokemon Activity Box that is larger and has more items to work with. It includes a photo album, stickers of the characters, markers, tattoos to color and notepad. This set lacks crayons and the activity desk. If you plan on ordering this product online, please read the detail carefully so you don’t order the wrong item.


As always, thanks for the visit!

^V^ Freak ^V^

© 2002 Freak369



Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): $ale
Type of Toy: Arts and Crafts
Age Range of Child: Whole Family