Product
Tested By Jessica Jade Milnes – Maisie & Poppy – 5 & 2 Years
Jessica
Awarded The Tomy Aquadoodle super colour deluxe 4.8/5
Looks like
fun for the girls without the mess of painting, the box was colourful and
appealed to me. The girls were excited to play with it and I was surprised how
big the mat was. For storage I think the box isn’t that great as it was easily
damaged with one end being rounded I found it didn’t last long before it was
ripped. The play matt itself was a lot bigger than I expected which allowed
both my children to play with it at once. The colours were bright and I liked
that you got more than one painting object. They could share and play together.
It entertained my children both 5 and 2 years old. Even I joined in with them,
all the fun without the mess. They have played with it for hours, it’s easily
played around the house, and they have played in the garden and then moved it
into the front room to play. The stampers added even more fun and the pen and
paintbrush allowed for more creativity allowing them to make different shapes
and pictures. I had no concerns with my child playing with them. The
accessories are not small enough for any child to swallow and they are well
made so I had no concern of them breaking. Both my children have played with it
for hours. My 5 year old has a very short attention span and is easily bored
but she played with it for a long time creating new pictures and she loved the
different colours. They were bright and added to the appeal. My 2 year old
loved the different colours as well. My 2 year has started to recognise
different colours and this helps her more they play with it most days. She has
begun to hold the pen a lot better so it has benefitted her that way. They have
both learned to be more patient and share the different accessories. It has
improved my 5 year olds cognitive skills by improving her attention and she is
more focussed on one task than flitting from one toy to another. My 2 year olds
hand eye co-ordination has improved. This toy is simple enough yet engages them
without losing interest. I would be willing to buy a separate pack that offers
different accessories to accompany the matt such as different stamps and a
roller maybe? It would allow for more pictures to be created. But with the
accessories and matt itself is more than enough. My 5 year old has used it to
practice her sentence writing. She has also suggested we can use other
materials in the house to make different effects such as cotton wool to make
splats. The mat has so far stayed in near perfect condition. It can get a
little dirty but is very easy to clean. It’s easily foldable and doesn’t damage
the matt when stored away. As mentioned previously the accessories are well
made and are durable long term. It’s a toy that can be used over and over
again. The matt itself is thicker and doesn’t appear flimsy. This is great value for money. There are more accessories than just the
normal pen. The matt itself is bigger and allows for more than one child to
enjoy. My 5 year old is asking Father Christmas for a different style matt she
loves it. I will definitely buy different products especially the travel mat if
we are going on a long journey. I definitely would recommend the product and I
already have to other parents. Allows for fun and no mess, I don’t have to
worry about finding my children covered in paint if I’ve nipped out the room to
top up the magic pen. The product itself is brilliant; we really have enjoyed
playing with it. Brilliant product for young children, parents can easily join
in with their little ones. It encourages creativity as well as improving hand
eye co-ordination and improving attention and other cognitive skills. A product
I would definitely recommend to other parents. Jessica Jade Milnes – Maisie &
Poppy – 5 & 2 Years
Product
Tested By Rosie Antunes – Maya 2 Years 6 Months
Rosie Awarded
The Tomy Aquadoodle super colour deluxe 4.7/5
Great
product for children to learn through creativity. The packaging is clear and
concise. The contents arrive wrapped in tissue paper (in the packaging box),
this I think is great as its simple and there’s not too much waste. Initial design and contents on the box: clear
to see the contents of the box and how to use this. The size of the product is
ideal. We can take this out with us to the park etc., and the drawing mat can
be folded small enough to fit into any changing bag/ bag. And the accessories
are compact to take on travels. And really good to store (not much space needed
at all)! It
would be nice for this to be slightly bigger, maybe this is because me and my
partner also use this product with Maya. But overall size for child’s play is great. Since
we have received this product my daughter plays with this almost every day. She
chooses a lot of what she plays with and nearly always wants to play with this.
I think she loves the colourful nature of the mark making when you apply the
pen to the mat. My daughter is now two and a half years, she loves to play with
this product. My daughter does play with the product for a while. When we play
with her she stays playing for longer, we create stories; learn the alphabet
and number using this. And we also experiment with different mark making. Currently
Maya is only using this product for what it is intended to do (except for the
stamps!) However, for us it’s a different and fun way to teach her certain
things, in a more creative way. This product is really easy to use; Maya now
knows how the pens and stamps work. So for her it’s not only the drawing which
is fun but the entire process. (From filling the pens with water, making the
white sponges damps, and the drying/ fading away of the marks). My daughter
likes to pretend she is stamping things around the house! This is developing
her role play and the way other people use similar shaped objects through their
daily routines. This product is great quality, Maya uses this almost every day
and the pieces are still in the same condition when arrived. This product is
definitely good value for money. My daughter is now at the age where she is
exploring other media to be creative. If I had another child I would purchase
this. I would recommend this product to family and friends as a good start for
babies/ children exploring mark making/ drawing etc. It’s another way to learn
through creativity. As well as our daughter using this product, me and my
partner have enjoyed playing with her with this product. It simple to use, creative,
good size (and for me no mess!!). Rosie
Antunes – Maya 2 Years 6 Months
Product
Tested By Lucy Little – Heidi 2 Years 6 Months
Lucy
Awarded The Tomy Aquadoodle super colour deluxe 4.6/5
Fantastic,
I love the idea of a creative activity which can be used anywhere with minimal
mess. Very well packaged with a lovely image which clearly showed what to
expect from the product and when I opened the box the product looked exactly as
it did in the picture. The product was really age appropriate for my daughter
with various mark-making tools which were exactly the right size/weight for her
to use confidently. Everything had been designed carefully and was safe and
suitable to use. When using the product my daughter remained extremely focused
for long periods of time, exploring making marks, movements and patterns and I
have found she often asks to get it out again because she really enjoys playing
with it. I had no concerns at all about this product, there were 3 small pieces
(stamps) in it, but not small enough that they could cause a choking hazard.
All of the pieces were well made and could be used safely and there wasn’t a
risk at all of my daughter hurting herself. As discussed earlier, my daughter
thoroughly enjoyed playing with the product and it kept her attention for long
periods of time. Because it came on a blank canvas it really allowed her to
stretch her imagination and make her own marks and movements and talk about
what she was doing. She absolutely loved the magic behind painting water onto
the pad and all of the different colours appearing. The colours were really
vibrant and caught her attention. This is a fantastic way of supporting children’s
hand-eye co-ordination, by encouraging them to mark-make using various
different tools. My daughter loved all of the different colours that appeared
and talked about which colours she could see. She was extremely imaginative and
there were no limits to what she wanted to create, one because it came on a
blank canvas and two because the canvas was so large so she had a great
opportunity to draw as big or as much as she wanted to. All of the pieces were
simple to use and I think this really helps open it up to a large age group who
could enjoy this product. I think there is only really one way to make use of
the product which is through painting/drawing and I didn’t observe my daughter
using it in any other way. Very good quality, the pieces could be dropped
several times and I would feel very certain that they wouldn’t break. The
pad/canvas feels strong – my daughter did walk over it several times when
playing with it and didn’t cause any damage at all. I think that £25 does seem
very expensive for the product, as much as I love the item and could really see
how much enjoyment my daughter got from it, I don’t think I could justify
spending that much money. I would purchase if saw on offer. I would definitely recommend. I was really impressed with this product and
my daughter clearly loves it – I think it offers a huge amount of enjoyment and
a great learning opportunity, supporting children to really use their
imagination and explore mark-making whilst developing their hand-eye
co-ordination. One thing I wasn’t very sure about was the three stamps in the
pack – a bee, a snail and a music note. I thought it was a lovely theme having
the snail and bee and my daughter recognised them and used them a lot during
her play but she had no idea what the music note was and it didn’t appear to
fit in with the mini-beast theme, I think it would have been better to have a
butterfly/spider or ladybird which would have been instantly recognisable and
made a lot more sense. I would also recommend that the price were reviewed, I
would be a lot happier paying £15-20 for this item. Lucy Little – Heidi 2 Years
6 Months
