Melissa And Doug Water Wow Deluxe Review

Reviewed by Amanda Hayes

My son loves doing arts and craft type activities and when I see things badged as “no mess” It makes me happy too!
We have a lot of Melissa & Doug toys as we find them educational & excellent quality and so were really pleased to be offered one of their water reveal pads to review. They have lots of different activity books in the collection which only require water to complete, no messy paint or felt tip pens and we were sent one of the Water Wow Deluxe pads. The age range states suitable for age 5+ and when the pad first arrived I thought the age group was set a bit high and it would be suitable for much younger children but once we started using it, it was more complex than just running a brush of water over a picture. The pad comes with eight themed scenes to complete, we received the Adventure deluxe themed pad, a red magnifying glass and a water brush. The brush was really easy to fill from the tap, or a jug, with the lid just screwing on and off and you were ready to go.

Each page has 3 activities to do, starting with wetting the page with the brush to get the pictures to appear. There is a maze to complete and pictures to find on the plain white sections of the book, each page also has red and orange squiggles on with lots of hidden pictures in. These pictures can only be seen using the red magnifying glass supplied, and each page has between 15 and 20 pictures to find so it takes a while. The Water Wow pads were much more time consuming and thought provoking than I imagined they would be and my 8 year old really enjoyed doing it.
One thing I have found with this type of product is that although it says you can use time and time again, you can see what you have done previously even if just faintly, and it ruins it for next time. I was very impressed with the Water Wow however, when I came back the next day to see the pages completely clear as if the book hadn’t been used. The magnifying glass and the water brush can also be stored back in to the packaging after play which keeps it neat and tidy.

Melissa & Doug have a great range of children’s activity books and in the Water Wow range there is something for everyone to choose from, with themes such as safari, fairy tale, dinosaur and farm. The fact you can take these anywhere with a small bottle of water adds to the appeal and the cardboard pages make them easy to use without a table, such as in the car or garden. I thought the pads was good value for money and I would highly recommend them as both everyday activities and for gifts. I would say that the pads are most suitable for the age range 5-8 and so would be a great party gift for primary school age children. As always, another resounding hit for Melissa & Doug toys.
Recommended 5 out of 5.

Rating: 5/5

RRP: £9.99

This product can be purchased from all good toy shops. For more information please visit the Melissa and Doug website here.