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BloPens Markers & Stencil
by emmad5689 I bought this set from Matalan before Christmas as a present for my eldest daughter, the set was £8 reduced down to £4 which I thought was ideal for a stocking filler. You can buy the pens on Amazon and they currently sell at £3.29 with 50p delivery. The set comes packaged in a brightly coloured cardboard box, the box states ... that the pens are for ages 4 and up which I think is about the correct age. You can see pictured on the front some of the items you get inside and a little picture showing the idea of blowing the pens. In the box you get 3 pens which are yellow, green and purple which I wasn't all that impressed with and Sophie did ask me why there was no pink pen but there wasn't a colour choice in the set. You get 8 stencils with the set which are a princess, prince and dragon scene, a dolphin, a hot air balloon, a bike and car scene, a fish, a toucan, a sailing boat and a rhino. As you can see from the list the stencils cover a wide range of items so there is something for both sexes and different ages. To use the set you firstly need to remove all the middle parts out of the stencils which is a bit of a pain and you have to be careful doing it do that you don't rip the stencils as they aren't exactly very strong only being made of thin card. The pens have to be turned around in their holders to work so you have to pull off the see through plastic holder and then take the top off the pen and push the nib into the holder before placing the lid back on the other end making the pen completely enclosed so the nib cannot be touched. When we first tried these pens they wouldn't work and I couldn't understand why, I was blowing on the end of the pen like you are meant to and checking the little instructions that come in the pack I couldn't work out what the problem was, after a while I discovered that when you push the pen into the holder it must be pushed in as far as you can and then it will work. The pens splatter the ink across your page and they fall in lots of little blobs of ink which provide great effects. To create colour you simply bow on the end of the pen and it sprays the ink from the pen over your paper, the harder you blow the pen the more ink splatters and the further it splatters. To created pictures with the opens you simply have to hold a stencil in place on the paper and then blow through the holes or hold it in place with masking tape which we found was easier for Sophie as she always moves the stencil by accident. These pens are fun and they seem to have a never ending supply of ink in them so they last really well and you can make loads of pictures from them. Sophie enjoys playing with the pens but we do have to remind her not to turn her head whilst she is blowing the pen as we have ended up with the ink all over the table a couple of times but luckily it does wash off. I think the stencils could have been stronger and the better range of colours would have been nicer but you can buy more pens too add to these, the pens are fun and great value with what I paid. Read the complete review |
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Crayola Metallic Markers
by Wee_Jackie_163 My nephew is three years old and is fond of exploring his artistic side, helped with the use of stickers, glitter and coloured pens/pencils. As this interest of his develops, I have purchased a whole host of artistic 'tools' to assist in this sort of playtime, with many items being purchased at Christmas time last year. One of the ... items that I purchased at that time was from the well-known "Crayola" brand, namely the pack of "Metallic Markers." I paid around £3 for the pack of markers in December last year from Amazon (www.amazon.co.uk), but this original pack had suffered a few casualties by way of a couple of the pens losing their lids and drying out. Therefore, when I recently noticed the same pack of pens available for a reduced price of £1.75 in a local branch of Sainsbury's recently, I snapped up the pens as a replacement for the originals. As @ the time of writing (May 2013), the pack of Crayola Metallic Markers can be purchased from www.amazon.co.uk for the cost of £3.80, with free delivery. The pens are housed in a thin cardboard box that is oblong in shape and has the usual Crayola branding in bright colours of yellow and green. Inside the outer box lies a black 'tray' that is made of thin plastic, and each pen has its own 'slot' in this tray which allows for easy storage. My young nephew is able to remove and replace the pens by himself easily, and we find that the pack's design is very suitable, allowing each pen to be 'housed' neatly within. There are five Metallic Markers contained in the box; silver, gold, blue, green and purple. Each pen is quite thick, allowing for an easy grip, making them ideal for youngsters' small hands. The pens are not suitable for youngsters under the age of 3, which is presumably down to the lids presenting a possible choking hazard. The pens are self-coloured, which allows them to be rather more 'child-friendly' than other felt tip pens that are in my nephews collection that all look alike, save for a small 'band' of colour at the end. My nephew gets impatient at times when selecting such pens, finding it tiresome to inspect the end of each pen before making his selection. The Crayola Metallic Markers, in comparison, are easily selected thanks to the bold colours of plastic used to correspond perfectly with the pens' respective ink colours. Removing the lids from the end of the pen is easy for my nephew to undertake by himself, and doing so reveals the pen's nib, of course. This is a sort of triangular shape and it has a 'chunky' look to it, which I find makes colouring in very easy for my nephew to do. Where other felt tip pens with a thinner nib will require more effort - and time! - to colour in larger areas, these are 'filled' more easily and quickly with the use of a thicker-nibbed pen, such as the Metallic Markers. Ideal then, for an impatient youngster who has little time to spend on such matters, it would seem! After use, the lids are replaced easily on the end of the pen, although I did note that my nephew was waiting for a loud, audible 'click' as the lid was pressed securely in place. This is something he has been taught to look out for at nursery, as it prevents the pens from drying out, of course. There is really only a sort of dull, quieter clicking noise present as the lids are secured, although we can still hear it..... just. As with any craft-like activities that are undertaken with a young companion, there is always a bit of mess present during our playtime. In the case of the Metallic Markers, this usually presents itself by way of a variety of colourful ink marks all over my nephews fingers and hands. I have found that these come off very easily with soap and hot water, and there is no need to scrub the skin to remove all traces. Similarly, my nephew managed to get an ink mark on the leather fabric of a footstool he was using to lean on, and I was able to remove this small mark with the use of a couple of baby wipes. Based on our experiences in this regard, I do think these particular Markers are quite suitable for use by youngsters, finding that any mess is easily cleaned up in a jiffy. In terms of the pens' performance, I do find that the colours included in the pack are quite bright, with my favourite shades being the green and the purple. I find that the gold colour included in the pack is rather dull, which is a shame, as the end result resembles what is better described as being brown rather than gold. There seems to be very little in the way of metallic 'sheen' from this colour too, with this effect being slightly more noticeable in some of the brighter colours, particularly the blue and the purple. Even so, I will admit to finding the 'metallic' element of these Markers to be slightly disappointing, as I was expecting them to provide something of a more shiny effect than they actually do. I can't say that the ink produced at the end result is particularly eye-catching either, although I can't say that my nephew has any grumbles where these pens are concerned. He loves them, and will often produce them during our craft times together, with him even refusing to put them in his large plastic 'barrel' where the rest of his colouring pens and pencils are stored. When I asked him why he does this, he said they were his 'special' pens. I can only assume then, that these pens offer something rather impressive to my nephew that others in his collection don't. As my nephew has a newer set of these pens, together with half of an older set, I was curious to see how the older set fared in terms of their ink. Out of the remaining three pens in the original set, only one is dried out to the point of being nearly useless. The other two are still performing well enough to be used up. As these pens are used so often, and have been for the past five months or so, I feel that they have performed rather well in terms of quality. I do therefore feel that they offer value for money, particularly if purchased for around the £3 mark or less. In summary, I do recommend the pack of Crayola Metallic Markers, particularly as they are something of a favourite in my nephew's vast collection. I find they are convenient to use and handle by youngsters and adults alike, and will happily purchase a new pack for my nephew when his current set need replacing. Read the complete review |
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Peppa Pig Complete Art Set
by emmad5689 My Mam recently appeared with this set for my 2 year old daughter, apparently it was meant for Christmas but she put it away and forgot where she had put it and only just discovered it again. Emily loved Peppa Pig last year but has more recently moved on to Minnie Mouse as her favourite character instead although she was still impressed ... when she saw this set. I have found this set for the purpose of the review and you can buy it for £9.99 however my Mam left the sticker on the back of the box and she only paid £3.99 but i'm not sure where from. The set came packaged in a cardboard box which was decorated nicely like a scene from the show, the box was open fronted, it states on the box that the set is for ages 3 and up however like I said my daughter is younger than this and apart from the fact of she could draw where she isn't meant to I don't see any reason she shouldn't play with the set. Inside the box you get a pale blue plastic case which folds in half and fastens up keeping the art set protected and also making it easy to transport, the case fastens with little push on poppers but Emily cannot fasten this herself and even her 5 year old sister struggles to get the case fastened. The case is decorated with a picture of Peppa Pig and a few of her friends which are al true to the TV characters so the scene is nice and brightly coloured and Emily likes to sit and name the characters. Inside the case you get 60 art pieces and each one has a specific place for them to sit and they each clip into place keeping them secure which is great as none of them fall out when carrying the case. In the case you get, a rubber, a pencil sharpener, a ruler, a lead pencil, a sponge, a pad of paper, a paintbrush, 12 felt tips, 12 crayons, 12 pencils and a palette of little paint discs. As you can see from the list there is a huge variety in the case and it really is a complete set. The parts of the set are all nicely decorated with the main colour for wrappers on crayons etc being pale blue and having little pictures on of the characters. The pens and are small and chunky for little hands and they work from any angle which is great as obviously young children don't hold them properly to begin with. We had a problem with our lead pencil in that all the lead inside must have been broken as no matter how much we sharpened it the lead fell out so that went in the bin. Emily is a little heavy handed and has snapped a couple of the crayons but Sophie manages to play with them without a problem so I think it is just a case of being too rough with them than a design fault. I never usually allow my 2 year old to use pens but with supervision she has been using them recently but I do insist on using washable ones which usually cost more so I was really surprised to find that the pens in this set are washable. The set has plenty of different colours in it so covers just about anything the girls want to colour in, you get red, orange, yellow, black, brown, pink, purple, light green, dark green, light blue and dark blue in each set. We found that the paints are a little washed out when you use them which is a shame as all children's characters are all such strong colours so basically the paints aren't strong enough to colour any of the girls colouring books with. The case is really good value and a great set especially to buy a young child who hasn't yet collected much art supplies, my girls have played with this set a lot although they are supervised with it as I can imagine what the youngest would do with felt pens, paints and crayons if I wasn't watching. Read the complete review |
Art / Craft |
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1 review Brand: Ravensburger / Art / Craft / Age: 6+ |
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1 review Brand: Orb Factory / Art / Craft / Age: 5+ |
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1 review Brand: BloPens / Art / Craft / Type: Drawing |
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Brand: Crayola / Art / Craft / Age: 4+ |
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1 review Brand: Hama / Art / Craft / Age: 5+ / Type: Beads |
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Brand: Toy Brokers / Art / Craft / Type: Craft Supplies |
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1 review Brand: Charmies / Art / Craft / Type: Beading |
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1 review Brand: Wood Worx / Art / Craft / Type: Woodwork |
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1 review Brand: Disney / Art / Craft / Type: Stamping |
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1 review Art / Craft / Brand: Galt |
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