I am a mum of two to Xavier who is 3 years and Eva who is 16 months. We were delighted to be picked to test the Crayola DoodleMagic Colour Change Mat as Xavier loves his creative play.
In the box you get a large A2 sized drawing surface, 4 different coloured pens, an eraser with a handle that is filled with water and a drying cloth.
Our initial thoughts were that the mat worked much better on the floor as the mat itself was too soft to draw on when hung up, I'm sure if you had a hook on the wall it would be better as it would sit flat but we only had a door handle to hang it on.
The pens were disappointingly wishy-washy unlike the vibrant colours on the box. However, the colours do darken ever so slightly when they dry.
The eraser is a good idea and does work but seems unnecessary when the cloth can do the job just fine. Xavier intuitively used the cloth for cleaning and found it difficult to remember to use the eraser and it was hard for him to hold the eraser so it sat flat against the mat for it to work effectively.
The mat rolls up for easy storage and transportation and has a pocket to keep the accessories in. When I first rolled the matt I expected the handle to be on the outside, but it wasn’t, however, the mat is light enough for this not to be an issue.
Both children enjoyed using the mat and it did promote some lovely family time as we drew around each other’s hands and discussed who's hands were biggest (it was papa's).
I really enjoyed the freedom that came with the non-staining pens, I felt relaxed and in turn so did the children.
In conclusion I feel that this is a really good concept but there a couple of things that stop this product from being a complete package.
- Laura Antill from Essex
