Reviewed by
Daniela Andrews
‘Draw, Snap,
Send, Laugh’ … simple, right?
This interactive
activity book is a fun accompaniment to the Australian, Emmy-Nominated TV show,
Doodles, currently screening on ABC
ME. The idea is that kids use the prompts in the book to draw a picture, take a
photo of their creation, and upload it to the Doodles website. If their picture is chosen, Ludo Studios (creators
of the show) will turn it into a micro-movie and screen it on TV.
With 176 pages
of activities, divided into various topics, there is bound to be something that
sparks the imagination of budding artists. Sections are titled: Monsters,
Aliens and Space, Robots and Technology, Magic and Fantasy, Dinosaurs,
Superheroes and Make Your Own Movie. There are also blank ‘Whatever-You-Like’
pages for freeform drawings.
All pages with
the ‘Draw, Snap, Send, Laugh’ icons at the bottom can be uploaded to the
website if desired. In and around these drawing activities are plenty of other
tasks too. There are find-a-words, join-the-dots, fill-in-the-blanks and
spot-the-differences. There are those with a modern flavour, for example tasks
requiring kids to use emojis to complete a text message. There are some
wonderful creative writing exercises included as well.
The design of
the book is fantastic and sure to appeal to the target age group (5–12). The
front cover is a collage of real drawings by kids, labelled with their names
and ages. The activities, by Daley Pearson, are written in a very kid-friendly
voice and are quite funny. For example:
‘Robots need a place to live too! Build a house for
this robot to live in … unless you want this robot to be homeless. Wait! Do you
want this robot to be homeless?’
The amusing
activity prompts are perfectly complementary with the whimsical outlined
pictures by Francis Stanton, begging for some colour.
It is not
necessary to upload pictures to the website, of course. However, kids of all
ages and abilities are encouraged to have a try, with an introductory note
reassuring them that ‘there are no good or bad drawings’!
