I am a part time child minder and look after my niece and nephew, while their mum goes out to work three days a week and it's good to keep something in the house for them to play with as they are over around at mine so much.

I was checking out the toys on ebay recently, trying to come up with some kind of idea as to what to get my nephew for his birthday (which just passed there after Halloween) this year he is a big 4 and is getting a bit more boisterous than he was when he was a baby.


When I came across Inkee the Doodle Monster I had my heart set on buying him, I myself had a lovely Pink Doodle Bear when I was younger and this seems to be a boy version of this toy.


The whole point of Inkee the Doodle Monster is to draw on him and make your own designs on him, this little toy really encourages children to be creative and draw on Inkee and give him tattoos, just making up their own design as they go along.


Inkee is a scary green monster with a yellow belly and orange claws, he also has orange horns and great big red eyes and big fangs, though he doesn't look terrifying, I can imagine that a very young or timid child would not like him and may be a little scared by him. Though my nephew, who loves the likes of big scary pirates and the villans in Ben 10, loves him and thinks that he is the coolest monster ever (mostly because he can draw all over him and give him tattoos). Inkee is a medium sized toy and is quite light to carry around, there is lots of room and free space on him to draw and tattoo him loads.


Inkee comes with two machine washable pens to draw on him with (this is good as two people can draw on him at once which promotes sharing or lets you get your own artistic twist on Inkee as you play together), though you can use your own at home, provided they are also machine washable pens, he also comes with a range of tattoos that a child can put onto his monster and colour in as he wants for example a shark or a skull and loads more.


You also get stencils to draw on Inkee with, some examples of these are a paw print or a a snake. These are good for kids who don't have a steady hand as they can still make master pieces when they are designing this doll.


When you draw or design Inkee, the pen doesn't come off onto your clothes or hands that easily, though with kids you can always expect a bit of a mess, the felt tip wasn't overly wet and dried in well into Inkee's covering.


You can wash Inkee in the washing machine, we always put Inkee in on his own wash as we are afraid that colours will wash out and ruin other clothes so I am not sure if you can wash him along with your clothes or not. Every time Inkee has been put through the wash he has came out spotless, he losses his 'new' feeling though, it isn't that his colours fade or that he looks damaged, it is just that he seems as though his insides have moved about a bit, making him look a little (but barely much) distorted when he has been through the washing machine, this is the case with lots of cuddly toys as well though.


Inkee is suitable for kids aged 3+
I bought Inkee online for around £20 which was a fantastic price for him, and just about as much as I was willing to spend on my nephew for his birthday. I haven't seen Inkee in the shops yet, though he may be lurking in the corner somewhere waiting to be found.


Overall I think that this was a great buy, my nephew really loves his Inkee doll and drawing on him and washing it off is so easy, at the moment, my nephew is really set that his design on him is too good for him to be put in the washing machine, but if he changes his mind, its easy to start again. I would give Inkee 5 out of 5, just because he is great and allows children to be a bit more creative than most toys.

*also on ciao under lorrainek90