Customer Reviews

Crayola Color Wonder Fingerpaint And Coloring Book

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I'll admit my kid is younger than the suggested age for these... he just turned 2... but I'm sure I'm not the only parent thinking this looks like a good way to keep toddlers entertained. ;-)

MAYBE you'd have better luck with an older child. Bear that in mind.

I bought a bunch of Color Wonder markers, paints, paper, and coloring books back in August when we were flying from CA to MI. I thought it would keep my kid occupied on the plane. It didn't... but that's another story.

We got all this stuff out again recently thinking he might be more into it. He seems to like the markers now, more or less. But not the paint.

The problem with the color wonder stuff in general is, it takes time for the color to appear on the page. It's a very weird sensation... you are coloring with a marker and nothing is happening. The color starts to appear in about a second, but it takes a few seconds for the colors to *fully* develop. The paints seem to take longer to develop than the markers.

The other problem with the paints is they are really soft. Kind of like a tub of lip gloss... very tempting for little fingers to dig around in. It seems my kid gets more fun out of digging in the paint than he does painting with these.

I am thinking an older child *might* be inclined to paint rather than dig. But then I am thinking an older child could be trusted better with normal paints so why would you get these in that case anyway?

The time delay plus squish factor made these a big disappointment for us. Your milage may very and it's not like you're going to need to take out a second mortgage to try these out. They're cheap enough. If they're a hit, great. If they flop, not a huge deal.

I suggest the markers over the paints, though.

And I suggest the plain paper over the coloring books, FWIW. The coloring books are kind of weird in that only the area inside the lines defining the picture can be colored. At least with the books we have. Say you have a picture of a seal. You can only color inside the seal. You can't draw a fish or a ball or your name or anything outside the seal, because only the paper inside the drawing is coated with whatever it is that makes the Color Wonder colors show up. The coloring books aren't terrible... it's just kind of weird/frustrating that you CAN'T color outside the lines. Sometimes you want to add a little extra.

I read a negative review and had to respond. I've bought several of these for my friends' kids, all ages 3 and up and they don't dig in the paint - they paint with it. I do too~ It takes less than 1 second for the paint to appear, and it's mesmerizing. This is a terrific gift, one of my favorite to give, kids love it.

My 9 year old receieved this as a gift and absolutely loves it. She took it with her to an "adult" event to play with, and a 5 year old at that event loved it so much that together they used it all up. Time to buy more!!!!!

I bought this for my daughter who is three. She loves to finger paint, and I thought that this would minimize the mess. Wrong!!! It was just as bad, if not worse, since the colors don't show up--cleaning is no easy task. As other readers said, it's like painting with Vaseline. We had to SCRUB my daughter to get this stuff off, and wash and rewash her hair (she scratched with icky, greasy fingers). The kitchen table was a greasy mess, and the paint box was a greasy mess. The colors on paper were pretty, but after leaving them to dry out for a day, which they didn't, the counter was a greasy mess too.

I'm very disappointed, as I do like Crayola's products, but this should be taken OFF of the market.

What a mess! These paints are basically like vasoline. Greasy and very messy. Then, to make matters worse, my daughter made me some beautiful pictures to hang on the fridge, and after a day or two, everything bled together and the picture was pretty much gone. Not to mention it looked disgusting. The color wonder markers are okay, but the soft sticks are a joke too.

I believe this product is recommended for a starting age of 3 as a mess-free alternative to traditional paints, markers, crayons etc. I was tempted to try it for my 2 1/2 year old who prefers crafts to playing with toys. The finger paints are really greasy, so I had some concern about it getting on clothing and furniture. Although it doesn't mark some surfaces with color the greasy substance neccesitates clean-up. The colors do not appear quickly. My daughter didn't have the patience to wait and see what would happen after applying it. Because the colors don't appear instantly the impulse, even for an adult, is to apply more than is recommended which results in a big greasy mess. My daughter did enjoy smearing the "paint" on but doesn't understand how to use the product sparingly; she uses way too much. Lastly, you will probably not want to keep these works of art because the greasy colors saturate the paper and bleed together over time.

I'm not sure what the other reviewers were looking for, but the bottom line is that this product is finger paint. It is labeled as finger paint, and even though clear, it is still a paint product. It will be messy on your fingers, and like any finger paint, you should cover your surfaces- throw down some news paper or a place-mat first. Voila! Easy clean-up.

That being said, I think it's a great product for the recommended age. My daughter started with color wonder products at 18 months. Now, at almost 3, she actually enjoys them and is (somewhat) responsible with them. We take the marker sets everywhere: on airplanes, to restaurants, to grandma's house, in the stroller, etc.

True, the paint has a Vaseline-like consistency, but traditional finger-paint is like pudding anyway. Color Wonder Finger Paint does clean up well, the colors blend nicely and create really interesting swirls of colors (think easter egg dyes) and will provide hours of fun to a age-appropriate child who can handle waiting a moment for the color to appear. Part of the fun is the anticipation of the magic picture to show up.

Just try it, what could you lose?

Although Crayola is a wonderful brand, I was not impressed with their Color Wonder fingerpaints. The time between when my children put it on the paper and the time it actually appears is too long for them, and they get frustrated. It is very hard to keep their attention long enough to make an entire picture. Also, it is not "mess free." The paints are very greasy and you end up cleaning it off of everything they touch (other than paper) anyways. I did not like how mushy the paint was...I am still finding globs of it everywhere!

A great deal at an excellent price! It a great item but it's still a bit messy...just now it's clear! What I didn't like about it was how greasy it was!

It's a great concept and kid's love watching the color magically appear however, I would highly recommend sticking with the markers for smaller kids (5 and under). The paints are messier and small kids tend to *dig* into the wax like substance rather than glide their finger across the top of it. It's wonderful for airplane or car travel because it eliminates the mess of color getting everywhere. I like the product but would still stick to the marker version.