Hey Doodle Habitats Above And Below Book Review
DISCLOSURE – THIS ITEM WAS GIFTED TO THE REVIEWER FOR THE PURPOSES OF WRITING THE REVIEW. ALL THOUGHTS AND OPINIONS ARE THE REVIEWER’S OWN.
Reviewed by Helen O
Having a 5 year old who is a big fan of colouring, I was delighted to be offered the opportunity to review the Hey Doodle Habitats Above & Below Book which is an erasable silicone story book.
The item arrived really quickly, so we didn’t have to wait long to get stuck in. The book arrived in an outer cardboard box, therefore all packaging was recyclable. Inside the box was a beautifully packaged item, which arrived in pristine condition. The item resembled a book, in an attractive keepsake book, which would look just right stored on a book case.
Inside the pack I found a double-sided, foldable vertical silicone mat with a box of 12 different coloured marker pens. One on side of the silicone mat were animal pictures to colour in running down from the sky, mountain, land and underground, depicting a range of animals from birds, mountain goat, giraffe and rabbit. On the other side of the mat was the different levels of the ocean, from the sunlight zone, twilight zone, midnight zone and the abyss, depicting sea-life ranging from a turtle, octopus, angler fish and cookiecutter shark.
What I really liked about the product was that the mat was foldable, so you can either use it as a full-length mat or you can fold it to the specific picture that you want to colour, depending on how much space is available i.e. dining table or perhaps a tray in a car, without causing any damage to it.
I also really liked the generous colour selection of markers included. So often companies are a bit stingy with sets like these and you get a limited amount, which don’t generally cover all of the colours that you want to use. However, with 12 markers in this pack, all bases were covered colour-wise.
As soon as my son came home from school, he couldn’t wait to give the set a try. The markers worked really well on the silicone mat, giving good coverage. One thing my my son was a little disappointed with was that with some of the pictures to colour, the mat had been sliced down and therefore the edges were missing off of some of the characters, for example the belly of the sperm whale and the flipper of the diver.
Once he’d finished colouring in all the different parts of the picture, we used a damp cloth to wipe the colours away. Most of which came off completely within 1 good wipe, which is great. We left it to dry for a minute, then folded it away again for the next time. I loved the fact that it folded away neatly into the box. The box is quite small too, so you don’t have to find a big space for it and it’s easy to transport around.
Hey Doodle produce two other Tales books, so you can create a collection of these lovely books. You can also purchase replacement markers, should you wear the original ones out, to ensure they are compatible with the mat and you can keep on using them. They also sell a range of A3-sized silicone mats with a set of markers, with many beautiful designs. There’s no excuse to not go sustainable, with such a beautiful range of colouring items available.
Hey Doodle first introduced these fabulous products to the market in 2019 in Australia, with three aims; to be sustainable, easy to use on the go and be engaging for children. I think they’ve achieved what they set out to do! These products are now on sale in 19 countries worldwide. Brilliant.
Both my son and I think the product is brilliant and would definitely recommend it to anyone with young children. It would make an ideal Christmas gift for any child. The product retails for £24.99, which I would say is quite a high price point and wouldn’t necessarily encourage people to move towards a more sustainable product such as this, over getting a cheap paper colouring book and set of pens. The product is marketed at those age 3 years +, however Hey Doodle believe it would be most engaging for children aged 3-7 years.
Rating: 4.5/5 would have scored full marks if it was a slightly lower price.
RRP: £24.99
This product can be purchased from Hey Doodle here.