Explosion maybe not, but still 'wow'! (Crayola Colour Explosion - Rainbow)

Member Name: mosaic369

Product:	Crayola Colour Explosion - Rainbow
Date:	05/07/09 (28 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great fun, creative, magic

Disadvantages: Can get a bit messy, younger children will require supervison

The Colour Explosion series by Crayola is a modern twist on the classic scratch art idea. The concept is that there are all sorts of colours/patterns hidden under a layer of black ink, which is dissolved by applying the colourless liquid in the special marker pens revealing the underlying colours.

I bought a twin-pack of these, containing the Rainbow version (pictured above) along with the Neon version, which is basically the same except that the colours are a neon shade. The twin-pack contains two 20-page spiral bound tablets (both black), three sheets of stencils, five marker pens and a zip-lock bag for storage.

I read some reviews on Amazon.com before making this purchase, and I was almost put off by some of the negative reviews, which said it was too messy and difficult to work with. I have to totally disagree with those reviews. It is much better than I ever expected. Now, I have to confess, that I haven't actually given this to my son to play with yet, but I had a go at it myself and I was amazed by the results. I think it works really well. The markers dissolve the ink perfectly and it doesn't leave any mess. I did get a little black ink on my fingertips, which didn't immediately wash off but it did disappear by the end of the day nonetheless. I can imagine that very young children get a bit messy playing with this, and maybe that's why the recommended age is 6+, otherwise I think younger children will enjoy the colour explosion packs just the same, with adult supervision if necessary. The intended market for this product is most probably young girls, but I know my soon to be 5-year-old son will have lots of fun drawing with these too.

You can use the stencils to help you draw or you can use free hand designs if you like. Younger children will probably just scribble on it, but it will still have that wow factor when they see the different colours appear within a few seconds as if by magic. You can see a video of how this happens here: http://www.videojug.com/webvideo/how-to-use-crayol a-color-explosion-papers

The only niggle I have with these packs is the included "storage bag", which is not more than a flimsy zip-lock bag most people use to store food in the freezer. Honestly, why bother? It would have been much better if they had made the outer packaging sturdier, maybe with a carry handle. The cheap nylon bag they included somewhat degrades the image of an otherwise good quality product.

Overall, I'm very happy with this purchase, especially that I bought it at a bargain price on eBay. I paid £4.50 including p&p for the twin pack. They normally retail at around £4.99 for a single pack, so I know that was a good deal. I will definitely buy another pack if I can find one at a similarly good price, but even the rrp seems quite good value to me. Do check the prices before you buy, as they tend to vary a lot. The Crayola Colour Explosion packs are also available in white instead of black.

Summary: The modern version of scratch art