Pip-Squeaks in Disguise markers product reviews

Crayola are always the brand of choice for me when it comes to buying my daughter and niece any arts and crafts products, due to the great variety of products which they make and the quality they produce. I was lucky enough to win 2 sets of these Crayola Pip-Squeaks in Disguise Markers, one from a competition in the KIWIreviews eZine and another recently through the 12 days of Christmas competitions. This meant that both my 2 year old and my niece who is 9 were both able to have a set each.

My 2 year old was very excited to receive these markers as she is very much into drawing at the moment, she struggled a bit with getting the lids off the markers, but really enjoyed drawing on her paper with them, the colours were rich and vibrant and came in a good selection, though she was a little dissapointed that there was no pink, her favourite colour. After letting her draw with them for a while I showed how the shoes, arms, hair and hats come off the characters which she thought was pretty neat, she loved being able to mix and match the different pieces and thought this was pretty funny.

My niece also loved these markers and said that they are like her Mr Potato Head which she has at home in Australia, so straight away she set to work removing all of the pieces from the pens and reassembling them to make lots of new characters, she spent a lot of time doing this as she needed to make sure they were right and matching apparently. After spending about 10 minutes playing around with the attachable pieces she decided she wanted to draw a picture, however before long she decided that the attached pieces were annoying when she was trying to draw so she removed them all again and used the pens as ordinary pens, replacing the attachments again when she was done.

These are certainly a fun marker which provides more entertainment marker, there kind of like having 2 activities in 1, which the kids seemed to enjoy, being a Crayola product they were of a great standard and washed off clothing, bench tops and hands easily in the first go. I would certainly buy them for other children of similar ages who love art.

Crayola has an established reputation for good quality products, but let's face it there are only so many things you can do with felt tips right? Apparently not, these Pip-Squeaks in Disguise are a new product from Crayola that is really quite neat. Felt tips are just that, they are a one dimensional product which are designed for adults and children to draw with.

These Pip-Squeaks in Disguise are more like a toy and felt tip rolled into one, there is the scope for children to indulge in hours of imaginary role play, dressing up their characters and undressing them, and then when they get bored with that they can draw... or even better they can use their characters to enhance their play. Their character needs a house? No problem they can simply draw one, and then carry on playing! Brilliant!

The felt tips are the typical quality that Crayola is renowned for the colours bright, and long lasting. The characters have a range of possible identities as all the dress up parts are interchangeable, meaning your characters can keep changing as your game develops. The parts are little, so parents do need to keep an eye on that, but I think in this case the intricate details add to the charms and the pens can either be felt pens or characters, it's a little too awkward to draw with them while they are all dressed up. A brilliant idea and kudos to Crayola for diversifying a product that has remained the same for many years.

I was lucky enough to get a set of Pip-Squeaks in Disguise markers to review, I was in hospital when the arrived and all the looks I got while I was playing with them myself was funny. I had so many ask what they were and I showed them, then my children turned up for a visit and my pens went missing, they took them home with them. The kids are 6 and almost 5 and love them, they love that they are easy to undress and play with, unlike any other pens we have used or seen before, these ones had faces and parts, my daughter said they are like the potato head toy we have, cause you can dress him up too.

Trying to draw with them all dressed up proved to be a mission but once we undressed them they were easy to draw with, they are nice and small for little hands. The markers that came with them without costumes they haven't really been as interested in when they try and dress them, my daughter goes this doesn't make sense, cause well they don't have a face to make them really work well.

There is a few problems I have with this, you need to find something to put all the pieces in as they don't always stay on the pens, and my kids have already lost a few pieces as they are small. But they have kept my children happy when they get to play with the markers aswell and draw with them. I might look at buying them as presents but will see.

I was lucky enough to win a pack of the Pip Squeaks In Disguise marker from the KIWIreviews eZine. I had been saving them for my son's fast approaching third birthday but my sister has been in hospital and after desperately trying to occupy him during visiting hours these came as the perfect distraction!

TeAriki was very please by the markers and spent hours of playing dress ups and using the markers as figurines in some very imaginative play. He loved that the hats, shoes, arms and hair was interchangeable and had a great time mixing up the characters. He had lots of laughs and I enjoyed watching him play out scenes he imagined with the markers.

When he finally decided he may give the markers a go at drawing some pictures he found it a wee bit difficult at first but we undressed them and there were no further problems. He thought it was very funny that the markers were upside down while being used. TeAriki did not use the four extra markers that had no faces so I may draw them on with a vivid.

I think these are fantastic, not only for colouring but for imaginative play and I will be purchasing a set for my nephew.

My girls (4.5 and 6 years old) were so excited when they saw the Pip -Squeaks in Disguise markers in my box of review goodies. I was a mean mother and left it in full view until they had tidied their bedroom. The jumped for joy when I told them that it was tidy enough to play with the markers. Miss 4.5 called them mix and match markers which I think is a very appropriate name for them. The pack has six markers that have removable shoes, arms and hair/hats. There are also four extra markers.

My girls played with the markers like Mr Potato Heads for a while before using them as markers. This is a big breakthrough for my youngest as she is reluctant to draw or write. I have being looking for something that would hook her into it and help her develop the fine motor skills before she starts school in a few months. They discovered that they needed to undress the markers before drawing with them, but they were much better than usual at putting the lids back on after use. I had a little chuckle when I heard "Come on guys you need get inside your house," as she was putting the markers away.

After dinner the girls asked to get the markers out. Most nights they are asking for a food treat. At shower time the marker proved how kid friendly they were when the ink washed off without any soap or scrubbing. I have never had them get dried and into their pyjamas so fast. Before I could blink they were back to using the markers. We even had two of the characters join us for bedtime stories.

There were a couple of things I thought could be improved. Firstly it would have been great if the four extra markers had faces like the other ones. We found a couple of the wigs were too hard to remove (even Daddy couldn't). There are only two other disguises that we don't have so we will have to get double ups to get these.

They were a hit with my girls and I will be buying them as gifts for girls or boys 3-6 years old.

We had some friends over and the kids were wanting to listen to the adults chat so to distract them I grabbed this pack of Pip Squeaks in Disguise markers and some paper and instructed them to draw. I was completely ignored as Miss Three, Miss Six and our Master Six friend proceeded to spend about an hour just playing with these without even using them to draw. They all found them fun and interchanged all the parts amidst a lot of laughter. The hands, feet, body and head parts all detach off the main marker. They made for a pretty cool toy for them and certainly served the purpose of keeping the kids distracted.

Miss Seven then sat down a few days later and noticed that the markers were all mixed up so she proceed to match them all up correctly and lined them all up. See attached photo. Obviously a child that likes order. She then decided to draw a picture using them. This was when the first issue arose in that she couldn't actually draw comfortably when the markers were set up with their attachments. Also when she was drawing with them they were effectively upside down and Miss Seven wondered why the faces weren't the other way around. We got around the drawing issue by taking the attachments off and then she was happy.

Overall these were definitely a winner in our house. The ability for these to be a toy as well as used for drawing means that they have added value when used on car trips outings etc especially if your child has a bit of imagination. I would definitely recommend these as a great children's gift and with Christmas looming near these would make a brilliant stocking filler.