My three year old daughter is obsessed with everything princess and she couldn’t wait to get her hands on the Chad Valley Colour in Fairy Castle. The product contents included 12 jumbo markers, and one play house to construct. She really liked the photo of the young girl with a mostly coloured in castle on the packaging and was very excited to get started with her colouring in, but it was short lived due to her age. I encouraged her to work on it bit by bit, but after three days of colouring in a very small section, she gave in to her desire to play princess and we built the castle.
Victoria was very impressed with the castle and enjoyed playing with it more than colouring but she is at the younger end of the age range the castle is aimed at. I liked the fact that it provided a creative outlet for budding artists and had a dual purpose.
Firstly, I would say that the Colour in Fairy Castle is probably more suitable for age four plus. In my opinion, most 3threeyear olds like my Victoria lack the patience and the attention to detail required to reproduce a completed coloured in castle. Furthermore, once assembled it was near impossible to keep the castle in a perfect square. Additionally, I think the jumbo markers could have been a lot thicker. I’m not sure if they’re sufficient enough to colour in the entire castle. However, that can be easily remedied with use of one’s own crayons or markers.
However I must say that, colouring aside, Victoria loves playing princess in the castle and I appreciated that it fostered creativity and imagination in my little princess.
PWT rating: ♥♥♥♥♥
Chad Valley Colour in Fairy Castle is available from Argos.