| Recommended Age: | 4+ |
| Cost: | $5.99 - $7.99 each |
| Company Site: | www.plasmarttoys.com |
| Website: | www.scribbledown.co.uk |
| Awards: | Independent Toy Shop Awards 2013 |
Both of my kids (and myself) love crafts and anything to do with art so when we heard about Scribble Down I was immediately interested…for them of course. These little packs are wonderful outlets for creativity. Kids can put the pictures on the backgrounds however they want to. You can make a funny picture, tell a story or just create some type of art that makes you happy. I love things that CAN have a certain way to do them but also allow for free creativity. Those are the best kinds of products!
Scribble Down has a lot of themed packs that allow for many adventures. Pirate Adventure, Dinosaur Encounter, Enchanted Castle and Wild Adventure at the Waterhole are just a few of the many packs out there and each is not only unique but has a “How to draw” guide on the back by renowned artist Clinton Banbury.
Scribble Down packs come in a plastic protective cover which not only protects but lets you open it (like a book) and see the decals and background. I absolutely love when packages let me see what I am paying for BEFORE I pay for it! My son started planning out his picture before I was able to get it out of the plastic cover.
The background takes a little adjusting to get to lay flat but not nearly as much as you would think. Once you have that situated and have a pencil, pen, coin or something else to scribble with you are setup and ready to go. The hard part is planning your picture out. These are one time use decals so make sure you know where you want them to go. If you mess up you can remove them from the background but you cannot ever use that one again.That is the downside but the upside to these decals is that you can add as much or little of the picture as you want. I made a pelican look like it had a fish in its mouth by NOT scribbling on the fish fins.
Also the animals look like they are part of the background once they are applied. Once you are done with your picture you will have a hard time figuring out which is the decal and which pictures were already there. At least we did…without picking at them anyway.
We were able to try out the Wild Adventure at the Waterhole and Farmyard Friends packs which was awesome because my kids both LOVE animals. My son, The Gentleman, has loved Wild Animals pretty much his whole life…or at least since he was 2ish. My daughter, The Diva, leans more towards the Farm Animals and Aquatic Animals. Seriously though these packs couldn’t have been more perfect for my kids.
My son chose the Wild Adventure pack and was so excited to see so many animals that he knew. He is a HUGE fan of Alligators, Crocodiles, Snakes, Lizards and any other form of reptile type creature so for his picture he wanted to have the Alligator (I think) in the water, the snake in the tree over the water and a chameleon on the water. A few other fish and one fish that looks like it’s chasing a bug in the water were all he wanted to add after those.
He said he didn’t want to add any more at the time because he wanted to save it. “I want to think about the picture story and what the animals are doing” is what he told me. It now is on a shelf near my desk safely waiting for him to work on it some more. He called it his “work” and needed to keep it with “Mommy’s work stuff”. That kid is too darn cute sometimes. He can do the packs by himself without any help (once I showed him how) so he can add animals as he wants to which makes it last longer too.
The Farmyard Friends was my Diva’s and she was so excited when she saw all the farm animals that she literally squeaked. It was adorable. She is a great scribbler but her scribbles are a little wild and free to do this on her own so I helped. She told me what animal she wanted to put down and where she wanted it on her picture. Then we set it up on the background and she started scribbling and when she got carried away I helped guide her hand into the little scribbles. It is helping her learn to make smaller strokes with her pencil while still holding it correctly though so that is pretty awesome.
Her favorites were the pigs, the dogs and the fox. That was her favorite song for the longest time… After we applied the animal decal we would make the noise of that animal which was amusing for both of us really. She also only wanted a few animals and pictures on her picture but hers is tucked away since she still needs help with it. Convincing her they are not stickers was hard to do too since she isn’t familiar with temporary tattoos or anything to compare it too. I think after a few practices on regular paper or more of these she will be able to do them on her own but for now we do them together.
Scribbling is a child’s first form of “art” and helps them learn fine motor skills, patience, quiet time projects, and is just fun. I think scribble art is beautiful even if it is on my wall sometimes. To be able to take that skill and use it to create picture art or tell a story using familiar creatures and things was brilliant to me. It gives children an outlet before they develop the ability to draw stick people that don’t scare adults.
Both of my children have taken great pride in their “artwork” and love to tell me what the animals in their pictures are doing. To be perfectly honest I had a lot of fun doing on too. It is a nice stress reliever and is just relaxing fun…like coloring. Yes, I still love to color. It relaxes me…don’t judge.
There is a pack for every child’s interest and every story is uniquely your child’s. They are perfect for so many occasions like travel activities in the car, quiet time projects, waiting in the doctors office or at restaurants and make great stocking stuffers or treat bags prizes. I can’t believe we have never had these before but I am sure we will have them all the time from now on.
