Luke’s daycare does a good job with making sure the kids do art projects. A while ago, Luke’s daycare teacher told me that Luke wasn’t into drawing. He would rather play with cars instead of drawing with the other kids. He would bring home artwork with just a dot or so on them. As a parent, I wasn’t that concerned because growing up I was never into drawing either. So I thought he got that from me.
But that all changed after we had dinner Ka’ana Kitchen in Maui back in October. The restaurant had a box of toys that kids can play with while at dinner. Luke picked out a doodle pad and played with it at dinner. At first Charlie and I were surprised because he didn’t ask for the iPad, he kept on doodling on the doodle pad. At first he would draw shapes and letters. Then I asked if he could draw a car. He needed Charlie’s help to do so at first but then got the hang of it. He loved the doodle pad so much, he wanted to leave the restaurant with it. So we ended up buying him a doodle pad while we were in Maui, the Fisher-Price Slim Doodle Pro to be exact.
So when I find a fun toy that Luke likes to play with…I have to share it!
We took it on the plane and Luke couldn’t get enough of it. I was shocked because I thought he didn’t like to draw. But since he loves to play with cars, all he did was draw cars on the flight back.
It’s been almost six months and Luke still plays with the doodle pad. We even bring it out to dinners with us sometimes, although it’s really big to fit into my purse. This doodle pad has been quite a pleasant surprise. Never did I think he would love to play with something like this, or that he loved to draw that much, but it’s been a good purchase for us. It’s not sitting around the house not being played. I love that the doodle pad has given Luke a creative outlet, to draw cars in many different ways. He always has to show me the cars and tell me what kind of car it is. Since he erases his drawings, I try to snap a few photos of each of his pictures just to keep. The few things about this doodle pad that I don’t like are that the stamps do fall off and can be hard to find, and also that it’s really big. But overall, it’s been one of our best toy purchases.
Although this doodle pad can be big, there are a few on Amazon that are small and portable like this one and this one. Although the one Luke has does not draw in color, I found colorful Magna Doodle that looks pretty cool.
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The doodle pad is great! We have five different varieties that come in various sizes and drawing options. It’s really good for helping our kids regulate behaviors while eating out. We’ve even begun playing toddler version Pictionary on ours; guessing what each of us drew for the win. Great car drawings, Luke!!
Pictionary sounds like a great idea!! We will have to try that!!