Customer Reviews

Do You Doodle?

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I picked this up for my daughter during a trip I took to London two years ago. She was a four year old budding artist and this was her new favorite book. It stretched her imagination and prompted her to produce the most wonderful drawings. And no kidding, this kept her busy for hours. The only trouble was (is) sometimes she had to have the few words on the page read to her to help her figure out what to do on each page.
I have been waiting for this to become available in America because she filled in her other one.
I am the daughter of a therapist who was opposed to the concept of coloring books that kept children drawing inside the lines. This is not like that. Catlow puts a half of a drawing on the page and invites the child to draw what is going on on the rest of the page, to provide the explanation of what is already drawn. It's been fabulous to watch her mind work as she comes up with what's going on on each page. Color is optional, what it's doing is encouraging the kid to expand or create. In fact, my daughter now does not at all like the standard coloring books. She asks me to buy blank notebooks and she draws in the "coloring book" outlines, then fills them in or "colors" them or not as she feels like it. In other words, she has continued with what she learned in this book and would rather make her own Catlow book than color in a standard coloring book.
There is another Doodle book with a gray cover, Doodles by Taro Gomi, which we bought for her when she filled up this yellow one, and it's good but probably for an older kid, I'm guessing 8 years or something. In the Gomi one they're asked to fill in word bubbles to indicate what people are saying... it just seems a little more suited for a slightly older kid who already can read and write.
I'm buying two of these Catlow books, one for my six year old daughter who filled in the first book, and one for my four year old. Oh wait, a third one for my five year old niece's birthday next month.

This book has appealed to everyone in our family (ranging in age from 5 to 48) so much that everyone ultimately got their own copy. There are so many ways to enjoy this book - we've done everything from doing the same pages separately and then comparing, to working side by side on a two-page doodle and discussing what should go into the picture next. Neither of our kids has ever liked coloring books or coloring in general, yet both took immediately to this book. They will often swap books and ask each other questions about their drawings and I'm often struck by the level of thought they've put into their drawings. Definitely worth every penny!

I got this for my 34 year old sister for xmas, she loved it! I have to tell you that after looking at it I went ahead and bought myself something similar, it is fun to just not think and "doodle"!

My son (age 7) has liked these books for a couple years now. This year we got him the Do You Doodle? as part of his schooling. He does the pictures as usual, which I feel encourage creativity and fun. They are much more interesting for the older child than simple coloring books. In a regular coloring book, you are stuck with the picture that is there, but here you are encouraged to use your own imagination and personality to complete the picture to your liking. And then color it or enhance it as you like. Some are just silly pictures (add measles to a line drawing of a boy), but some encourage some more thought and creativity, such as drawing a machine or a way out of a hole for a kid shown in an underground hole or box. My son has a beautifully creative mind, and these books suit him perfectly. This year, we are using them as writing prompts for creative writing. Most writing prompts leave him totally cold. This year he is picking one of his own drawings (a page in this book) as the prompt for a journal entry about once a week. He has gone from really dull uninterested writing to at least some though and excitement when writing about a specific complicated machine picture he made, or even about the boy with measles covering his body in the drawing. These also make excellent "car trip" books.

This book is great fun! I gave it to my 6 year old grandson and he grabbed a pencil and didn't stop doodling until pizza was served. He loved having the fun ideas to start his drawing. It was a hit!

I love these books, I give them as gift to children and adults! They may be simple, they may even be something you can create yourself in your own family, but they are fun additions to car rides, outings etc. They spark conversation, stimulate creativity and artistic expression. They encourage artists of any age! You no longer have to ask or be asked "what can I draw?" The book is a great exercise to loosen up the mind and hand and perhaps move on to further create a completed masterpiece of your own...fun for parents and kids to do together too! Did I mention I love these books?

My 11-year-old daughter bought this with allowance money, and has really enjoyed it. She's kept a sketch book for the past couple of years, and is always drawing on scratch paper around the house, as well as doing other artistic projects. This book adds prompts: she flips pages until she finds an idea that sparks her imagination, and then draws based on the prompt (words and a partial picture). I'd recommend this to anyone who wants that kind of activity.

I have 2 young grandsons and they will have fun working and sharing this book for they do love to doodle

If you are a fan of the Doodle for Boys and Girls books like me- note that this is a simpler younger version.

The book provides some ideas on doodling if you absolutely have none. For kids who have some creativity it can be a little frustrating and limiting. The book is very heavy bound and the pages do not erase easily if you are using pencil.