Interactive Colouring-in characters with Crayola Color Alive

Product review- Crayola Color Alive.

Crayola is changing a child's way of colouring in with color Alive and its virtual colouring effects.  The colouring-in books look like a classic book, lots of cool pictures with details characters to customize, plenty for a child to have fun with.  However there is something really special about these books.
Here are some pics of how we had fun using the Color Alive range, and what I really think of it...

Capturing the imagination, creativity and focus of children (and adults).

Customize.
Color Alive combines colouring with a 4D interactive experience. The colourer-inner, aka creative child can customize their picture using any combination of the colours and then bring their picture to life in a 4D app.   The anticipation for bringing a character or creature to life is really engaging. I found that Dimples coloured in so much more detail and he was focused for much longer than he usually would be. All because he really wanted to create his own pet.

Transform.
Watching the Colouring in that they just completed transform with a spinning magical portal, they'll see their design and creation transform into a 4D figure above their page. They have their own theme music and virtual tricks. They move and make sounds and have fun little individual characteristics.  Dimples eyes widened as he seen the "portal" and all the magical effects before his pet dragon appeared.

Interact.
Children can bring Characters to Life, bringing them off of their drawing and then can interact with the characters, take ‘selfies’ with them, tickle them, play or poke them.  They can also be saved as your own pets or characters for use anywhere, any time, with or without the colouring in page.  Here Miss T laughed at her Medusa sitting on her head, and put it on a forest play mat.  "Snake lady looks real there" she giggled...

Dimples was so excited to show his pop his creation, and they had lots of fun taking selfies of the dragon sitting in the palm of his hand, on his shoulder and on his head.  You could get really clever with this and do some trick photography.  Hey!! That gives me an idea... Stay tuned to my Instagram.

Special effects.
Children will love the "elements" that the characters and creatures represent.  The new books by Crayola contain a set of special crayons can even create virtual Colouring Effects; Special Effects Crayon  add animated effects such as comic symbols, fire, ice sparkles and pixie dust.  Can you see the REAL fire on Dimples Dragon picture below? Pretty amazing really.  Then he used his dragon pet in a balancing act and poked it for a while as it sit above his page.

The products RRP for $7.99 each and are available from all good leading retailers.  The Colouring in pack includes six Crayons, one Special Effects Crayon, 16 Action Coloring Pages, and a FREE app download that makes it all so much fun. 

If you want to check out how amazing it really is, social media #CrayolaAU

I would definitely recommend them, and I would say any child would love one of these magical books as a gift! They are fantastic and really have to be experienced to be appreciated.

Happy Adventures  :)

This review was brought to you by Nuffnang and Crayola ColorAlive. 

Spring Craft Yarn Dancing sticks & dreamcatchers

Kids craft activities using yarn are always unique, giving children a different opportunity to create something individual and bright for them self or for a gift.
We had lots of fun collecting and painting sticks for these spring time dancing sticks made with spotlights colourful flinders yarn.

Using this silky smooth 100% cotton 8 ply yarn from Spotlight  in kids craft was great for developing fine motor skills, making patterns, discussing colours and the craft ideas are endless. 

With our bright spotlight yarn we made Pom-Pom dancing sticks, a twirling wand and a zig-zag dancing stick.

The kids loved dancing around with them, twirling and waving them in the wind.  after a cold miserable winter, the sun is finally shining and the air smells like Spring, these were a little celebration to inspire the kids to get outside and enjoy the outdoors again. Making them was a process that involved a bit of patience, focus and fine motor skills. Dimples did great weaving the yellow zig-zag yarn through his forked stick. Because this yarn is thick and smooth, it is great quality which made it easy for the kids to handle.

This yarn is available in the most bright and beautiful colours from spotlight stores. you can find them on Facebook.

Spotlight is a family owned and operated Australian business that has become as household name. Spotlight is a brand loved and used by many for all things crafting, fabrics and home wares. They also have an awesome party section.

With our bright yarn we had the opportunity to #getcreative and craft some spring time dream catchers and dancing sticks to have fun with.

What you need:

Flinders 8ply yarn from spotlight 

Rainbow painted sticks

Feathers

Metal ring

Glue and scissors.

 

 

Dancing sticks:

First have your children find some cool sticks and paint them in beautiful bright spring colours.

Talk about the colours, name them and point out other colours in nature. We sat by the lake on a grassy hill to paint our sticks.  If your not a fan of painting with little ones, here are some tis to make it easy.

 

 

Once dry, weave yarn around the sticks. Depending on the shape of your stick, they could thread it around, tie strings off one end like a wand or put two sticks in a cross and weave it around all four ends to make a pattern. 

Pom-pom spring time sticks.

These are awesome, they look about like mini Lorax tuffaluffa trees or big bright flowers.

First make a pom-Pom. its easy enough to do on your hand.

Next glue it to the top of your rainbow stick. Done. Isn't it cute? This was both Dimples & Cherubs favourite.

Dream catcher:

Crochet a circle pattern, like a doily, as your centre piece feature (I cant knit or crocket so had Mum do some cute little ones we could use). 

Shape wire into circle and cover it around and around with spotlights 100% cotton 8 ply yarn.  It was really easy to manage, it circled in evenly, covered all the wire smoothly and was not fluffy at all.

Then with a little help, get your child to thread through the doily and back to the sides in the pattern of a star. It's a little bit tricky and requires a lot of concentration but dimples had a good go of it and practiced tying knots at the bottom of it.
Add hanging strings and feathers from the bottom.
 

We still have plenty of yarn left and will be making some more dream catchers to give as gifts. smaller kid friendly ones. with the rest of the bright colours, the kids was some more pom-pom sticks.
Visit Spotlight and check out their online catalogue to see what type of yarn and craft activities you can #getcreative with.

This product talk is brought to you by Nuffnang and Spotlight

A B C Reading Eggs Read-To-Cure Challenge

Dimples has been playing and learning with ABC reading eggs lately, its an educational site for kids ages 3-13 that helps and promotes a love of reading in children. Its really fun and easy to use, You just go to The Reading Eggs Webpage, create a log in and "add a child" then they can go online (or on an ipad if you have a wireless connection) and start completing books and learn to read activities. Sounds too easy right?

 

 Well it is that easy, and from the 4th August to 1st September 2014 ABC reading eggs is offering a 5 weeks free trial.  This is the second year they've paired up with the Children's Cancer Institution and parents to raise important life changing funds for the Children's Cancer Institution.

The Read-To-Cure Challenge will be open on 4 August and children who sign up will be encouraged to complete as many books and online reading lessons as possible, they can have their friends and family sponsor their efforts to raise money.  Not only does the Read-To-Cure Challenge support an important cause, it also inspires young children nationwide to read books and improve their literacy skills with this 5 weeks obligation free trial. Click here to read more & sign up to take part in the challenge

 

By joining in on the fun and signing up to be part of the ABC Reading Eggs Read-To-Cure Challenge, we aim to raise over $100,000 for the Children’s Cancer Institute. But not only this, there is another awesome benefit to all the children who join in; they will have the chance to win lots of cool prizes, too. There will also be prizes to children who complete the most books plus lessons, as well as to those children who raise the most funds. Its all for a good cause so why not give it a go? We will be.
       

It’s educational, fun and 100% FREE to register. 

ABC Reading Eggs will provide 5 WEEKS FREE ACCESS to their online reading program (ages 3-13).  Not only this but your child can WIN fantastic prizes and Family/ friends can sponsor their reading efforts with all funds raised going directly to the Children’s Cancer Institute.

         

Helping to find a cure for childhood cancer, one book at a time. 
Children’s Cancer Institute conducts vital medical research into finding a cure for childhood cancer. All donations raised go directly to supporting their lifesaving initiatives for the 625 Australian children diagnosed with cancer each year. Check out the picture below for some examples of how funds can help.

Learn to read in 5 weeks free abc reading eggs, an award winning program with many educational benefits.   Will you join in? 

Mud Paint Torture - Radiant Review and Give away

"Radiant Return proves that Radiant keeps your colours looking newer for longer".

Have you heard this and wondered if it were true?

Well I was given a Radiant No Sort liquid to try for myself and put this theory to the test.  As you already know if you follow this blog, we love mess! Messy Sensory Play, Playing in the dirt and in the Mud Kitchen, extreme Painting and slime making, all of which messes up the kids clothes good and well.  CHILDREN CAN NOT HAVE TRUE FUN WITHOUT GETTING A BIT MESSY!  Its a fact of nature and as parents of these some times chaotic, crazy and messy little people, we must accept this and learn to live with it, or do we?

So lets have a little fun kids, here goes...

Before

Crafting with ink dabblers and markers 

Finger Painting with a 15 month old

Mud printing and stamping, our usual play outside in the dirt.

After

No sorting and one wash

I was certain that the ink would still be slightly stained on the shirt and that the yoghurt paint around the neck wouldn't wash out first go, but it did. I was very surprised! In fact I think I had more trouble cleaning the children than I did cleaning the clothes.

Watch the video below for a real life torture test done by two best mates and one of their girlfriends on the actual brand new clothes they bought from a shop, they washed them in their own home and returned it (like new) to unsuspecting retail assistants... Did Radiant No Sort pass the torture test?

Impressive, really impressive.

If you're not convinced watch the other hilarious (and real life) Radiant Tests at www.radiantreturn.com.au  or visit https://www.facebook.com/RadiantAustralia to see what others think.  It worked for us and is suitable for both front & top loader washing machines!
Radiant is available in 3 great variants, Brilliant Whites Sharper Colours, No-Sort and Sensitive. Each variant contains Colour Guard technology which is how Radiant keeps your colours newer for long.
For more information visit the website. www.radiantreturn.com.au 
This is a sponsored post, I received a bottle of the product to try, all opinions are my own.

 Closed!

Now, one lucky Adventures at home with Mum Reader has the chance to win 1 x $50 Big W voucher that I have to give away. To enter, simply leave a comment in response to this question...

 

'Which variety of Radiant do you most need in your house and why?'

 

Now closed ; Winner, Rachel McGuire