Review: Crayola Mess Free Colour Wonder Finger Paints

While we were down in Singapore, I saw this on sale at Isetan:

I’d never seen them before in Malaysia, so I decided to get it for Gavin since he enjoys painting so much and I detest cleaning up.  I confess that I was won over by the “mess free” description.  Plus, it was on sale – S$17.00 down to S$13.68.

Now that I know about the existence of these “mess free” Crayola colour wonder kits, I saw a rather limited range available for sale at MPH going for about RM37 which is just slightly more than what I bought it for.  Thank goodness I got it on sale in Singapore or I would have felt so ripped off.  And just to warn the unwary shopper, I’ve also seen these kits in Toys ‘R’ Us Singapore going for S$25 so definitely do NOT buy them there.

The kit comes with a 24 page booklet with “special” sheets so that the colour only appears where it is meant to and a set of 6 invisible “mess free” paints.

Your child can paint with a brush or using fingers:

And the end result looks something like this:

What did Gavin think?

He enjoyed himself and was keen to paint again the next day, however, compared to painting with real finger paints, I’m afraid the paints still win hands down.  Gavin likes the freedom of expression that painting on a art block affords him (read: he loves painting his hands and making hand prints).

What did Mum think?

It is an easy art activity to do.  It doesn’t take much time and it is easy to clean up afterward.  It definitely presents an alternative to cracking open the regular fingerpaints on days when you’re short on time or if you’re in no mood to clean up after.  You can also leave your child to his own devices without having to worry if he’ll smear his paint all over the furniture while you’re in the kitchen making yourself a cuppa.