Washable Dry Erase Activity Book product reviews

It took some time before I could convince Mr4 to really give these a proper go... he just wanted to scribble all over the pages at his whim, rather than try and do the exercises on the page. Eventually, with some gentle guidance and a lot of positive praise when he did something close to right, he started to get the hang of it. Now, these are something he nags for on a daily basis. Not at ALL sure how to feel about that!

I found these really simple for the young fella to use, once he had the idea of each of the exercises. His favourite ended up being the Pirates book, as he seems to have a thing for pirates at the moment after sneaking in to join his big brother watching the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie a few weeks ago. One thing I did find was that it took a lot of effort to wipe the pages down... until I discovered (thanks to a leaky waterbottle) that a slightly damp cloth or paper towel does an excellent job in record time!

It was great that every book came with it's own pen, though I have to agree that removing the pens without damaging the cover was a mission. Having long and varied experience with 'hot-glue' adhesives on products, I had a few tricks I could use, but I still ended up with a couple of little 'blisters' on the cover. Though I doubt it will happen, I would love to see Crayola invest a bit of R&D budget into a better way to attach a pen securely, without using hot-glue. A method that allows the pen to be reattached would be an absolute winner in my book - as it is, we have 4 books & 1 pen in a box for Mr4 to get access to at his whim, and three pens stored away for when the first one runs dry.

Overall, this set of books is brilliant! The variety of exercises and challenges in any single book is more than enough to justify the cost, but to get the set and have a varied spread, able to engage any young one no matter their mood or leanings for the day... priceless!

Well this set is every mothers dream. Crayola products have never failed to impress me and I learnt pretty quickly that I only wanted "washable" felt tips in my house.

The Dry Erase pens are brilliant. We had some difficulty getting them and their packaging off the book and it was extremely difficult to do without ripping off some of the cover. Any glue remaining on the cover is horrid and sticks to anything it touches. Some of the glue was trampled into the carpet and was difficult to remove. Once the pens are removed they have no clip on them so are difficult to store thereafter with the book.

And that is my only negative comment!!

As the pens are Dry Erase and we had four books, whilst Miss Four and Miss Five were doing their books I was able to give Miss One a book and pen and let her go Crazy. I didn't stress when she moved on to the table cloth (and a little later when I was looking the other way the wall) as these pens wipe off and wash out 100%. It was nice to not worry about the pen being wiped by shirt sleeves and great that Miss One could feel involved and thus not annoy her big sisters.

Each of the four books has a variety of activities and a different theme.

About Dry-Erase Activity Workbook - Ship Shapes
This had a pirate theme and was all about shapes. Dot to dots, drawing triangles (sails), mazes, draw four crackers, draw four squares around silly things, why are they silly? etc. Miss Four loved this (she loves pirates) and she really enjoyed this workbook. I had to help her but it was fun and she loved the colourful pictures. Miss Five was able to do most of the activities by herself and didn't need much assistance with this book.

About Dry-Erase Activity Workbook - One, Two at the Zoo
A zoo animal theme, this activity book focus on 1-20. Great as most books only do 1 -10. The pictures are really engaging and Miss Four was really keen to try this though it is probably better pitched for Miss Five who blitzed through it.

About Dry-Erase Activity Workbook - Handwriting Magic
This is a fantastic work book. It has a "magical princess" theme so might not appeal so much to boys. Each letter in the alphabet is demonstrated with the order in which to do the pen stroke for each letter. There are lots of opportunity's to trace words and letters and unscramble words. This was way too tricky for Miss Four but Miss Five enjoyed this.

About Dry-Erase Activity Workbook - Under the Sea ABCs
This would be the one to use for boys. With an under the sea theme it has pretty much the same beginning with the letters of the alphabet but is a bit simpler in having less words to trace over etc. This was better for Miss Four and obviously fish are engaging for both boys and girls.

I would whole heartedly recommend buying this set. The fact that these books can be used over and over again means that you will get fantastic value for your money and when your children have grown out of them they will still look as good as new (or thereabouts) and can be passed on to someone else. Top Ten!!

I was delighted when I was offered the Crayola Dry Erase Activity Books to review. As a former New Entrant teacher and now as a home-based educarer I have a keen interest in resources that help children learn essential concepts such as shapes, numbers and letters. The fact that these were made by Crayola promised that they would be a quality product. I wasn't disappointed.

I trialed these books with seven children ranging from three years to four and a half. They all loved the books and were keen to do the activities. The bright colours and characters appealed to both the girls and boys. As expected the older children coped better with the activities.

These are not independent activities as there is a lot of reading of instructions involved. It was great to sit with the child while they were doing this as I was able to reinforce correct pencil grip and letter formation.

The pages were made to last. They wiped clean easily with a dry cloth or tissue and still look brand new after lots of use. They are strong too. There are no rips. This is a great resource I will be using for many years.

There were a couple of things I would improve. Firstly it is difficult for an adult to remove the packet containing the pen without damaging the pen and there is nowhere to store the pen once it has been opened. Secondly some of the instructions are confusing for the children. In Ship Shapes they are asked to "Circle five squares" the children went for the circles on the page.

Having used both the cards and the books I would use the books when I had just one child as there was nothing to tidy up. The cards were useful when there were several children wanting to use it at the same time.

I have shown these books and cards to early childhood teachers and they were very impressed. They are looking at buying several sets to use with the children preparing to start school.

We were so lucky to be picked to review these amazing products. My daughter has just started primary school and is starting to learn to read, write and spell. She is also doing a bit of maths.

These dry erase activity books are brilliant. They have themes that are kid friendly and fun. And they all come with a white board marker which was a huge hit with Miss 5.

I loved that the marker is washable like the other Crayola markers, because she used her sleeve to clean the pages and correct errors. And these are re-usable, unlike the books I have been buying her. With those paper ones, once the page is done its done. And if she goes a bit silly we can't start again.

About Dry-Erase Activity Workbook - Ship Shapes
My daughter LOVED the pirate theme. She enjoyed using her imagine to design coins and the dot-to-dot and map activities the best.

About Dry-Erase Activity Workbook - One, Two at the Zoo
My girl enjoyed being able to be creative and draw the faces of animals onto their heads. There was also a bit where you had to draw fruit for an animals lunch. She made up some funny fruit for him to munch.

About Dry-Erase Activity Workbook - Handwriting Magic
More opportunities to be creative, this time with princesses and dragons. Learning to write and spell fairytale things as well. Missing magic letters was her favourite.

About Dry-Erase Activity Workbook - Under the Sea ABCs
My daughter loves animals of all kinds, but she has a special place in her heart for fish. Thanks to this book she can now spell eel and can read fish and crab as well. She liked playing the matching games and drawing fish that start with various letters.