My girls keep scratching - but there's no nits! (Flair Rainbow Art Dora The Explorer Sticker Scratcherz)

Member Name: kingfisher111

Product:	Flair Rainbow Art Dora The Explorer Sticker Scratcherz
Date:	28/03/09 (324 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: excellent craft kit

Disadvantages: only one scratching tool

As is apparent from some of my other reviews my daughter Natalie is a big Dora the Explorer fan, so it wasn't altogether surprising that many of her fourth birthday presents had a Dora theme. This Flair Rainbow Art Dora The Explorer Sticker Scratcherz was another of her very successful presents! It's a lovely arts and crafts kit that provides everything that a child needs in order to create over 100 foil stickers. My daughter was well pleased when she first set eyes on it.

Everything comes in an attractive cardboard box and this contains 7 foam sticker sheets that hold over 100 stickers to make, 50 sheets of different coloured and textured foils, a scratching tool and an instruction leaflet. - as I said there's everything that you need!

The foam sheets contain loads of different Dora themed stickers which children will easily recognise from the TV series and the books. These are all precut so when you decide which one you want to make the child just has to gently push it out from the sticker sheet. The stickers then have additional bits of precut protective paper that you need to peel off leaving a sticky surface ready for the foil. These might be Dora's hair, an arm, some words or just about anything else in the picture. The idea is that you peel these pieces off one by one and then scratch different coloured foil on the different areas. You place the coloured foil on top of the sticky area and then use the flat end of the scratching tool in order to rub the foil on. You have to keep doing this until you have revealed and 'foiled' all the sticky areas and then the sticker is complete. Finally, there is a backing to peel off which then enables your sticker to be placed where ever you like - preferably not on our new table or freshly painted walls though!

The instructions are very easy to follow using photos as well as text to explain all the different steps. There is also a colour guide for if you want Dora and co to look exactly like they do in the books. However, like my daughters you could totally ignore this and end up giving Dora bright pink hair - the choice is yours!

The set is recommended for four years and overs and as I said my youngest daughter is just four. I was interested to see how well she coped with making the stickers but everything was pretty simple. Pushing the stickers from the sheets is very easy, but removing the protective covering is that bit more tricky especially as some of the areas are quite tiny. Having said that though, it was my big clumsy fingers that had more difficulty than my daughters' small dainty ones. The scratching tool is very simple to use as well and there is no problem with the foil coming off and sticking to the area. I wish that there were two scratching tools though as my daughters enjoy making things together, but with this set, one is always waiting for the other to finish their scratching!

Once made, the stickers are very bright and attractive and they have been apppearing all around the house. Be warned though, the backing does have quite a strong stick. I found one stuck to a kitchen floor tile and it took me ages to remove it! They will stick to clothes quite well but I like to encourage the girls to make sticker pictures and then there's absolutely no problem. My daughters are extremey pleased with all their 'products' and as they hardly take any time to make they are very unlikely to become bored.

Everything in this kit feels good quality and there are enough stickers to make that it will last quite a while. If you do run out though, it is possible to send off for refil packs of foil. The entire kit costs £9.78 from Amazon and the refils can be bought for £1.49 a pack, but if you buy more it works out at better value.

It's a very enjoyable art activity for young children and we all do recommend it.

Summary: Fun stickers to make.