Gift Ideas from Crayola

My 10 year old daughter Bridget is very creative. Her favourite subject in school is art and I always can expect positive feedback from her teacher about how well Bridget is doing in art class. I try to give her the tools to unleash her creativity with toys, books, activities and more. Crayola has some amazing toys this holiday season for children to inspire imaginations.

They sent Bridget several toys to try out and she’s been playing with them over the past few weeks. I asked her to pick which one she wanted to try first and she was immediately drawn to Crayola Sketch Wizard. With this set, children can draw almost any flat image (2-D) or a dimensional figure (3-D). Sketch Wizard projects the image onto a piece of paper making it easier for the child to draw. It can even project images from mobile devices. Children look through the Sketch Wizard at the object and then draw what they see onto a piece of paper.

The set comes with all the tools needed to start sketching and colouring including six short Crayola coloured pencils, a graphite pencil, starter sheets and blank sheets. It’s recommended for ages 8 and older.

The first object Bridget drew was one of the artificial pears I keep in a bowl on the kitchen table. She went around the house picking out items to draw with her Sketch Wizard. She drew a photograph of her and her cousin, Avery. I think she did a great job!

When I first looked at the Crayola Widescreen Light Designer, I thought of the Lite Brite toys from my own childhood. It has the same neon lights, but it’s closer to an etch-a-sketch where you are drawing on a surface. It’s perfect for doodling, drawing or making a sign for your pretend store. It has seven different light effect sequences to display your little ones creations. Wipe the screen off to clean and start fresh.

It also has a panel kickstand and wall-mount option if you wanted to display the designs in either portrait or landscape orientation.

It comes with six markers that can easily be stored in the storage slots at the screen. This is very handy so my daughter won’t lose the markers. You’ll also need to put in three AA batteries (they are not included).

Bridget has been practicing her cursive writing and doodling with the different colours. She enjoys experimenting with the lighting settings and sharing her works of art with us. John even sat down with her and started doodling on it. It’s recommended for ages six and up.

The Beadola Charm Maker is a great rainy day or weekend activity. It does take time to make so set aside an hour or two to work on this activity. With the Beadola Charm Maker, Bridget is making her own beads using the Air-Dry clay. It comes with a variety of bead pattern plates, air dry clay bags, 2 bracelet chains, glaze pain pots, 180 grommets, 25 gems, 16 drying spools, bead punch, paint brush and the Beadola Bead Maker itself.

Children can make their own beads and create memory bracelets to keep or share with friends.

Bridget’s favourite part of the process was the finishing touches – adding glitter, glaze and designs to her creations. She’s a bit slow at it and is still working on her first bracelet. She said she wants to give one to her cousin for Christmas.

Beadola Charm Maker is geared towards kids ages 8 and up.

The toy I was most excited about and was the Crayola Paint Maker. It’s like a miniature paint mixer like they have at the hardware stores….well, one geared for kids of course. Still, it is SO cool to make your own paint. Bridget and I sat down together for about an hour creating different colours of paint with the colour strips.

It comes with a mixing guide and everything you need to make 15 unique paint colours. It also includes the Paint Maker unit, paint base, paint pots, paper, paint pot labels, colour recipe chart and a paint brush.

Once your child selects the colour they want to make, they simply follow the colour chart and add the correct amount of coloured paint strips to the paint base. Then it goes into the Paint Maker where it’s shaken to create the desired colour. Bridget stopped every so often to check the intensity and then made a judgment call to shake or not shake.

It also has a fold up design for easy storage and clean up. The Paint Maker Refill Pack is handy to have so can keep making new paint colours when your initial set runs out.

Crayola Paint Maker is recommeded for ages 8 and up.

Bridget is really enjoying her new toys from Crayola. If you have a child in her age range who enjoys being creative and making projects, these toys from Crayola would make an excellent gift! We certainly have no shortage of rainy (or snow) day activities!