This little piggy wants you to paint it... (Crayola Oink! Oink! Make Your Own Piggy Bank)

Member Name: azana

Product:	Crayola Oink! Oink! Make Your Own Piggy Bank
Date:	15/07/09 (140 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: fun at home

Disadvantages: unglazed finish

If you have, or know, a child who is into all things crafty then chances are this is a product they will enjoy. Aimed at children age 4 and above, but in my opinion accessible to slightly younger children with supervision, this set contains a piggy bank, brushes and 6 paint pots.

I bought this set with my 3 year old, it cost her £9.95 of her birthday money at WH Smith, but is also available for less at Amazon. She wanted to emulate her older sister who painted a pig at one of those pottery cafes and has since been filling her money bank with hard-earned pennies. I was attracted by the crayola name, having already bought a number of other crayola sets.

In the box was a carefully packaged pig, made of white unglazed porcelain and nicely finished with a cheeky grin and a removable stopper. There were no instructions, but then it is a pretty self explanatory activity. The 6 colours provided were purple, pink, blue, orange, yellow and green - so though not specifically a kit for girls I don't think boys would necessarily appreciate the colour choices.

The brush was of fairly good quality and my daughter got stuck in and really enjoyed the actual painting. The paint was thick enough to not go everywhere and also dried onto the unglazed surface fairly quickly. They do say on the box to take care as the paint may not wash off some surfaces, we did find it was easily removed from little hands once the painting was done.

One thing that annoyed me slightly was that on absolutely all the example pictures on the box, which were presumably ideas for older children, the pig had cartoon eyes painted in black - which actually wasn't possible as that colour wasn't provided. It didn't matter to my three year old but I do think it is better if images are realistic and attainable.

There was enough paint for copious application and the paint dried to a nice sheen and the finished product looks quite good. Once applied the paint wouldn't, however, be easily removable if you change your mind design-wise due to the finish of the pig.

This item won't allow you to get the results you would get at a pottery cafe, the pig won't be glazed, but it is a simple set with nothing complex about it - you paint it and job done. It is also a cheaper option than a paint your own shop. Like I said before we enjoyed using this set, and it was a nice activity to do at home.

This would make a lovely present and the finished item is a very nice piggy bank that will hopefully help my daughter along the way in learning the first lessons about the value of money. Recommended.

Summary: an enjoyable craft activity