Wednesday, May 4, 2011

The Buzz on RoseArt's Color Blanks

For the Lawyer's Personal Pleasure: I received one free Color Blanks and purchased two extra with my own money.  I was not compensated for this review.


Color Blanks Product Description:
Your poseable figure gives you a white slate to design yourself! Use the included Color Blank markers to make it groovy green or bright orange with yellow stripes. Draw eyes, clothes or shoes on your figurine, then add the finishing touches with the included stickers. For extra originality, add your own fun stuff such as buttons, sequins, glitter, a hat or a prop – the possibilities are endless! Sets include 1 plastic figurine, 3 permanent mini markers and a sticker sheet.


RoseArt asked if they could sent me a Color Blanks for review purposes and I accepted. However, with two kids, I thought maybe there might be some issues with "sharing" and so I sent the review sample to a friend for her daughter and instead, bought a Color Blanks frog set  for my own kids (yes, with my own money!)  The Color Blanks singles are around $5 and the duo sets are around $10, so I figured we would get at least $10 amount of entertainment from them.

I had high hopes for these Color Blanks!  Unfortunately,  I did not realize these were meant for kidlets 6 years and older.  My son is 5.5 and my daughter is nearing 4.  With that in mind, we soldiered on.

First, we noticed that the markers did not dry very quickly.  And they were sticky while wet.  And the coverage was not spectacular for coloring the entire body of the piece. After awhile, both kids grew frustrated with how long it took to completely cover the piece in color.  The markers were all over their hands, although it did wash off with some scrubbing. I finished the coloring myself and we set the pieces in front of a fan to dry.  After they were dry, the kids did have fun applying the stickers.  And they do still play with their frogs.  So yes, RoseArt is onto a great idea - an art project that can be played with later.  They just need to work out the details since the markers were not just quite right for this.

I do believe we got our money's worth, even though my kids were under the target age. The project took about 40 minutes total and the kids still play with their frogs. I certainly didn't feel cheated out of my 10 bucks!  I would consider buying these again, in particular if my kids spy them and ask (politely).  However, next time I would approach this differently by doing the body color with a Sharpie* by myself, leaving the object to dry, THEN letting the kids go crazy with decorations.  In hindsight, I wish I would have passed my review sample to my 9 year old nephew because I think he would totally dig this.


*Yes, I am the crazy lady with a rainbow of Sharpies.  Respect the Sharpie.

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