VTech V.Smile Art Studio

Very good vtech product to help bring out the artist in your child, my daughter will be pleased with this.

Fast delivery A+

My daughter loves to express her creativity using pens, paints and whatever she can get her hands on. If we run out of paper, the walls becomes her canvas. The cleaning-up afterwards is not so fun for the parents.Vtech Art Studio lets the children be creative without any of the mess.

It can be a bit tricky for kids to get the hang of, and does take some getting used to, but perseverence does pay off. The activities are varied and fun, teaching kids about colour mixing, line drawing, colour fill, then moving on to drawing shapes and objects, and very basic animation (putting 4 pic's in the correct order to make a simple cartoon). All in small bite size lessons. And there is free-draw for when they want to just do their own thing, as well as fun picture-stamps to add to their creations.The pen is a bit stiff, and you have to hold it upright (kids may find this tricky to remember) for the sensitivity of the pen to be effective. But then the whole system is chunky and durable, so you probably can't have it both ways (sensitive and durable). When my little one found it tricky, it did go into the cupboard for a while, but has been brought back out and at age 6 she's having great fun with it! It makes a change from drawing/colouring on paper and the usual media, and teaches children the principle of using a graphics pen (which I found tricky at first, but now rely on it).I would recommend it for ages 5 and over; and if your child finds it tricky, it'll always keep for when they're a bit older.

The V.Smile Art Studio is not a bad tool to add to the Vsmile console, but it's not great. One of the problems with the V.smile machine is that it not as clear as it could be on today's LCD and plasma screens. The graphics appear blurred due to low resolution. This affects the art studio, as it can be difficult to pinpoint things as the crosshair blends in too easily. I agree with other reviewers about the pen, it can become a distraction for younger children trying to draw on the screen and finding it is not working correctly as they aren't pressing down hard enough. Some of the lessons are hard for young children, as the accuracy that is required is difficult to achieve with blocky graphics and crude movement detection. For example, when asked to draw a circle, tracing the shape on-screen, it's difficult for a child to accurately follow the shape with the pen. They end up failing to stay within the required shape on-screen and it tells them they have done it wrong. hardly the inspiration they need to enjoy this program.However on the plus side some aspects of the art studio are fun, such as the colour mixing and free draw, using stamps and the like.In conclusion your child may feel uninspired by the product as it will often tell them they haven't drawn a shape right even though they have tried their best. You know if you gave them a pen and paper and asked them to draw the same shapes they wouldn't have the problem of a circle nearly coming out square due to poor resolution!My daughter much prefers to use the PC now for having fun with art drawing programs. We use Tuxpaint which is a program designed for children and has loads of features. And best of all it is completely free!!! Stick Tuxpaint in your search engine and you'll find it.

My 3 year old loves this! There's so much to do. It's a bit like Paint that you have on your PC.The board is big and chunky and has nice big buttons; perfect for little hands. The "buttons" are shown on the TV exactly as they are on the board. The colours are down one side and the tools along the bottom. my 3 year old has no trouble picking out her tool, eg line drawing, shapes, paintbrush, pen, etc, then her colour.Animations can also be added to your picture or you can even make a short film. this part my daughter loves!There's even a couple of games to play. One you have to match a head with it's body on a conveyor belt. And the other features the little V.Smile TV and you move him along and collect the colours.It's just a shame that pictures and animations can't be saved. Or hooked up to you printer so you can print the pictures.

Great item, my little girl loves drawing on this. Plenty of games and activities. Good selection of colouring pictures, the games are at a good level - my daughter is 3.5.Does have a couple of drawbacks though. The item only works off 4 A type batteries and tends to go through them very quickly. Doesn't always start off correct first time - quite often need to restart the system a couple of times in order to get the drawing pad working.

My little boy is just over 2 and half and he loves this! Especially the `free draw` section where you can choose different colours and i find you don`t have to press the pen too hard-My little boy can do it! It`s better than them getting covered in crayons and felt tip pens. This is like an aqua draw but million times better! And you can `save` the pictures (or scribbles) they have done.I would recommend buying this for your little picasso!!