Road Test: Okido’s Okidoodle Colouring & Activity Book for Kids
Posted: December 22nd, 2009Today’s post written by Miki
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UK-based Okido Magazine – www.okido.co.uk – pronounce it Oh! KID! Oh! – is a science and art themed magazine aimed at 2-7 year olds. I discovered Okido earlier this year at Bubble kids tradeshow, and I highly recommend it: kids (and parents!) really get a lot out of each issue, and it’s affordable too, with an annual subscription costing around AU$60 (at current exchange rate) including delivery to Australia.
New to the scene is the offshoot of Okido magazine, the Okidoodle Book, a 74-page colouring book full of art and science-themed activities to get your kids’ brains working while they turn the pages into works of art. It’s beautifully illustrated and definitely superior to the mainstream equivalents on the market – much more creative and thought-provoking – and presents a good range of activities to appeal to both boys and girls within the age bracket.
Like Okido, Okidoodle is aimed at 2-7 year olds. As an experiment, I decided to test it on four children of different ages to see what they thought of it.
Two Year Old Test
First up was my two-year-old son Alex, who enjoyed pointing out various elements within the book (animals, trees, food etc), and doodled merrily all over several pages. Obviously at age two he couldn’t read or understand many of the instructions on the pages, and I think really that two is probably too young to really get the most out of this book. He did enjoy it though, and I’ll definitely keep an eye out for more Okidoodle Books as he grows over the next year or so.
Four Year Old Test
Next to have a turn was my friend’s daughter Holly, almost four. Like Alex, she couldn’t read the instructions, but with some grown up help was able to get to grips with the activities on many of the simpler pages. She particularly enjoyed the ‘join the dots’ type activities, and the many pages to do with animals.
Five Year Old Test
Jack (aged five) had his turn next, and he reveled in the insects pages. He drew the correct number (well, more or less!) of legs onto various bugs, and enjoyed the ‘identify the odd one out’ activities. Like the younger children he needed some help in reading the instructions, but was off and away as soon as he understood what was required.
Eight Year Old Test
Eight-year-old Samantha was the last to get her hands on the book, and she absolutely adored it. She was able to read and understand the instructions on her own, and spent over an hour and a half engrossed in it. Her favourite pages were the ones relating to the human body, but she also loved anything to do with animals and enjoyed the mazes and puzzles.
Having seen four kids enjoy the Okidoodle Book I definitely recommend it as a fun and educational indoors activity for kids, particularly as the school holidays drag on. Children who aren’t confident readers yet will need some help from a parent to understand the instructions on each page, but seven-year-olds upwards should be fine to handle it on their own.
The Okidoodle Book retails for £4.99 (around AU$9 at today’s exchange rate) plus £2.50 delivery to Australia, and is sold directly through the Okido website.
