You may remember several months ago, we reviewed a couple of fun, educational kits - The Powers of Light (here) and Shampoo Lab (here) - from French brand Sentosphere. They have now added a range of modelling clay kits to their portfolio called Patarev, which translates as Clay of Dreams. We received the "Princesses du Monde" (Princesses of the World) kit to try out.
Inside the kit, you get six press-out dresses which are coloured on one side and black and white on the other side so that you can colour them in, either following the traditional dress models or using your own imagination. You also get five pots of Patarev modelling clay and a very detailed instruction booklet, showing you how to create the heads and use the five colours to blend the multitude of tones and shades to get the completed models.
As well as being great fun and helping your kids to get their creative juices flowing, it's also educational, both artistically - learning how to make a rainbow of colours from the five basic colour pots - and geographically/culturally, looking at the different regional costumes and trying to work out where they come from.
Sophie got down to business, deciding to start with the Japanese princess with a fan. I didn't hear a peep out of her for the next twenty minutes, as she coloured in the dress then modelled the face and arms. She mentioned that, unlike much modelling clay, it doesn't feel at all greasy, sticky or gooey and it is actually really nice to work with.
This is the model of the Japanese princess that she used for inspiration.
And here is Sophie's Japanese princess, which - as you can see - she is very proud of. She carefully packed everything away for another day but said that she is really looking forward to making the African, Peruvian, Eskimo and Indian too. (There is a sixth princess to make but I can't for the life of me think what it is and it's safely secreted out of harm's (or rather Juliette and Pierre's !) way in Sophie's bedroom so I can't check!) The kit is labelled age 5+ but to really get the precise details, I would say you need to be a bit older.
The Patarev modelling clay has a lovely soft, non-sticky texture but also doesn't stain, doesn't dry out and the colours stay lovely and vibrant. The kit has only just been released in France so you may not find it in the UK yet - Patarev modelling clay is already available on Amazon UK though.
star rating : 5/5
RRP : €13 (about £10)
Disclosure : We received a Patarev kit for the purpose of writing the review.
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looks like lots of fun!
ReplyDeleteI remember going to see an eskimo exhibition when I was still quite young and being fascinated by "foreign" clothing and customs. I think it is a great way to introduce children to the wider world.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds lovely! I think I will order a set for my two girls! I am glad they take after me for their love of making and creating! I cannot wait until they are a little older though so I can teach them crochet, knitting and cross stitch! They keep asking but are a bit too young yet (4 and 6!) They are enthusiastic though! Your daughter looked liked she really enjoyed the activity! Thank you for the review!
ReplyDeleteThis is brilliant! Looks like Sophie enjoyed it a lot.
ReplyDeleteShe did, she had great fun ! xx
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