Cinderella my love you're redundant. (Tomy Cinderella Aquadraw)

Member Name: abbadabbado

Product:	Tomy Cinderella Aquadraw
Date:	25/03/09 (166 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: a great drawing tool

Disadvantages: cinderella doesn't need to be there

My toddler has loved drawing right from when she learnt to hold a pencil, and she in turn has loved her mini aqua draw mats that she has had at her young age. When I saw the large Cinderella aqua draw mat on offer at Amazon I couldn't resist it for her. Despite the recommended minimum age of 3 years, I knew enough to know she wasn't going to do any harm with a water filled pen and a drawing mat. She may need supervision with the Cinderella toy that comes with the mat but I can easily watch that.

The mat is a dual layer effect, which shows through the pink undercarriage when water is placed on the top layer. Brightly done out with a pink border and white centre, it's plenty big enough at approx half a meter square for any child to happily sit in the centre of it to do some doodling.
Included with the mat are also two water pens, one a standard pen and the other has a trail foam attachment to it to create the path for Cinderella to dance on.
The added extra to this large mat is the Cinderella and prince charming plastic toy that adds that something extra special to this mat.
Cinderella is designed to waltz about on the tracks drawn for her by the young artist. This is done by inserting two AA batteries into the base of Cinderella's toy and popping the happy couple on top to swan around the mat.
There is a sensor in the base unit of Cinderella that is designed to pick up any water tracks made by either the large pen of even the smaller pen. As the unit is switched on and detects these tracks then you will be able to watch the unit move around until it runs out of track.

I felt this part of the mat left the product down slightly, as it took us ages to get the unit to work correctly. To start with Cinderella just whirred a quiet sound as we placed her on the track and she didn't move anywhere.
Eventually after a lot of prodding and placing her on differing areas of water tracks we did get Cinderella to move.
My daughter isn't overly bothered by this part of the toy at her young age and for that I am thankful because Cinderella is now sitting on her shelf as a decoration looking very pretty.

Back to the mat, and with both the pens, my daughter will literally spend ages sitting down doodling onto it in her hap hazard toddler way. I know as she gets older and providing the mat stays with us that long then she will enjoy drawing actual pictures and being able to indulge in letting the picture fade away after as the water dries to be able to use the mat all over again.

This mat is invaluable for parents as it's a great way to allow children to draw without making any mess with accidental scribbles off the mat. As you are only using water then no extra mess can be made. Even if the child gets the lid off the pen (which is designed to do up and undo backwards to avoid this very reason), then all you have wasted is a thimble full of water as the pen doesn't hold very much at the same time.

I have noticed a few minor disappointments to this mat after constant use. My partner folded it away whilst there were still some distinct drawings on the mat, and the following morning when we got it out again we noticed that there were faded pink marks where the water hadn't dried properly. The marks are still there now so I would advise letting the product dry completely before folding and putting away.

The pen itself is quite small so for a fanatical artist you could be re filling the tube quite often, but also on the other side of the coin, when the toy is put away you should remember to empty any excess water out of the pen as it can ruin the pen nib over time if you don't.

I was lucky enough to get this on half price offer at £14.99 at Amazon after Christmas, and whilst I think I got a great bargain for this price, I'm not entirely convinced it's worth the £29.99 it retails at. I don't think even for older children it needs the Cinderella attachment; however I can see a short lived appeal to it. The mat will have longer popularity for the drawing aspect of it not the dancing plastic toy that may or may not go depending on the sensor and the amount of water involved.
Even for my toddler I think it's a great addition to her toys. It's given her a large surface she can sit on or lie next to and doodle when she feels like it. I also don't have to keep masses of pieces of paper with her first scribble on them (of course I'll still have these but this channels her drawing energy in a different direction).

Summary: a great way for children to doodle