Customer Reviews

New Crayola® Color Wonder™ Sprayer

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

 

 

My kid loves this product. He'd been asking for it for awhile and we finally got it. It's very easy to use, especially for kids who need to work on motor skills. Each "color" vile that you attach to the sprayer is a clear liquid. However, when you spray it on the special Color Wonder paper, the color appears. So, it's really not messy if the kids miss the paper. No smell problems either. Don't confuse this product with a REAL airbrush, since the treated color wonder paper and the toy sprayer limit the amount of art you can really do. But, it works GREAT on the special coloring books designed for Color Wonder. The stencils are fun too and add significantly to the creative part of the kit. You also may not need to use as much "ink" as you think you do. The colors seem to darken as they liquid dries. Also the refills are a bit pricey, but not too bad and the ink seems to last for awhile. Overall, I give this high marks. Just remember this is a kid's toy and not a serious artistic toolkit.

Length:: 0:58 Mins

This gizmo is fun for about 6 minutes and 20 seconds, not including set-up time. It's okay to a point once you're using the coloring pages or stencils supplied, but doesn't encourage self-expression or creativity.

Pros:
1. No mess, other than the occasional splatter of white stuff, which is easy to clean up.
2. Sprayer makes a professional sounding noise
3. Includes three stencils, with interesting patterns
4. Easy to set up
5. Includes everything you need except batteries


Cons:
1. It uses FOUR "C" batteries (not included)
2. The colors only work on Crayola special paper.
3. The colors are pale, washed out looking tints of the colors they claim to be
4. The colors don't show up immediately, and as a result, kids tend to spray the same area over and over again, causing a wet spot
5. The coloring pages are specially created so that the paint only sticks to specific areas, thereby guaranteeing a good finish. Similarly, the stencils only let through the paint in the right places. Kids can draw their own images using the markers and crayon, but it's impossible to keep the spray within the lines, resulting in major frustration for kids who want to express themselves beyond the coloring pages and stencils.

Recommended only for short term entertainment, when you don't feel like cleaning up afterwards. Not for creative kids.



Amanda Richards, March 20, 2008

The Color Wonder Sprayer is easy to set up and use. However, the colors are very dull and take a long time to develop on the paper. Also, the sprayer sprays very broad strokes of color so it is impossible to create any specific detail on a picture. It works best for painting one page half one color and half another color. A little boring for long term use and not very creative.

We just opened this gift -- it looks like fun -- but wow -- how lame! The sprayer takes forever to show up on the paper. The kids sprayed and sprayed and then you have to sit and wait for the color to appear. The markers work much better and are almost instant. This is very boring. They tried it and then switched to tracing the stencils with the regular markers. What a lot of equipment/batteries/expense for what was ultimately markers and paper.

I have been reading several reviews for the spray-type coloring toys. And it seems most are just disappointed in the bright colors, and the refills and buying refills. Well, I would give a suggestion that I read from another reviewer(would give credit if I could remember her name). Though here it is:
These couple of items should be in your kitchen cupboard, or buy them for less than five bucks:
1) Food Coloring.
2) Corn Starch.
3) Water.

First> Mix 50% Water to 50 % Cornstarch.
Then > Drop several drops of a food coloring into the mixing bottle(Would probably use a lot of coloring to get a bright color)
Shake> The bottle to mix thoroughly.
Pour > The colored mix into the sprayer, and there you go.

Clean : remember to clean well and to mix the ingredients or else it will get clogged up very easily.

My daughter got this for Christmas and she loved it. She is very artsy, and I really thought this would be cool. But first of all, it does take forever to show up on the paper. The markers are much better. But what makes the toy junk is that it stopped working in less than a month. It still makes the spraying sounds, but nothing comes out. We were very good to clean out the nozzle between each use but it still crapped out. What a waste of money!!!

The kids played with it for hours, and the resulting pictures are really nice. The kids loved it.

I bought this for my 7 year old son, and he really enjoys it. I do however wish that it came with more color for the sprayers and more paper. He ran out of both very quickly.

We've had this toy for awhile. Neat concept, but it's only good as a rainy day toy. Keep it hidden until the kids are deathly bored and bring it out. They get a kick out of it for an hour and then it's back in the box. Leave it out, and the kids never want to play with it. Bring it out once in a while and it's a hit.

It's easy to set up. My 5 and 7 year olds can do it without help. The kids like the special paper it comes with. They spray blank pages all over and pictures pop out like magic. Once that runs out, I just let them play with the standard Color Wonder refill paper. They use the stencils to create scenes and color them up with the Color Wonder markers.

The spray lasts a long time. We haven't had to replace it yet after quite a few uses.

I think the kids would like this sprayer better if the colors would come out more quickly when they spray, but this is a problem with all Color Wonder products. It's the lag time that kills the fun. It's sometimes hard to know if the sprayer is working or where we've sprayed. We have to wait to see if we see any colors. Despite that, this toy still has a life at this house.

We are huge fans of Color Wonder. One thing I love about Color Wonder is that the items are mix and match. Luckily, we have several other colors of color wonder markers, several pads and coloring books, finger paints, and additional stencils which made this a better toy than what's included.

First, although this is "mess-free" it's really not 100% mess free. When using this toy you'll want to have a towel ready to wipe the stencils off because it will spray on the stencil as well as the paper.

My biggest complaint with this toy is that the 3 stencil sheets included don't work too well with an airbrush. You'll unfortunately end up stenciling nearby designs creating quite a mess on the paper. A set of individual stencils with wide borders might have pushed this up a star and made all the difference.

The only two markers included are yellow and black. I think Crayola, the company of many colors, should have included at least 4 markers. Luckily I had several more Color Wonder markers on hand so our creative juices were not stinted.

Considering the price of this toy, I would have expected more than one pad of 30 sheets. Two pads would have been great.

The batteries installed easily, it takes 4 size "C" batteries, which are not included. Luckily I had a pack of 6 on hand I had picked up at the dollar store to have on hand for occasions like this.

Overall, I think the toy is well-designed. It's fun to use but the accessories were a disappointment, most notably the stencils.

Creative children might just enjoy the regular color wonder pads and markers by themselves.