MM is a big fan of all things crafting, drawing, coloring and creating. In his world there is never enough construction paper and coloring books often fill up too fast. So we are both pretty smitten with the new play, draw, create kits from innovativeKids’ green start line.

The kits contain a magnetic dry erase board, fun magnets, kid-friendly dry erase markers and a write & wipe activity book that lets kids explore their imagination, create something amazing – and then wipe it clean and start over again! Hurray for less paper! And besides using less paper, these eco-friendly kits are made of post-consumer recycled cardboard and vegetable inks. So my greenie tendencies are pretty excited about this fun new toy that provides endless hours of fun on the go.

And we’re not the only ones raving – these eco-friendly kits are winners of a Tillywig Brain Child Award. According to Kid Stuff PR, the awesome folks that sent me MM’s kit for review:

“In order to be selected as a Tillywig award winner, a product must be determined to have high entertainment and/or educational value. innovativeKids received a Brain Child Award. This honor goes to exciting products that energize the mind while seamlessly blending fun and learning.”

My son really enjoys this kit – the pages of the wipe & write activity book have lots of learning opportunities that are fun to explore like tracing numbers or drawing and filling out your own “drivers license” – and he loves the magnets – especially the little build your own truck magnets! He loves looking at the pictures of trucks in the activity book and recreating them on his own, then making his own designs, too.

The kit is fairly light weight – no heavier than a hardcover book – and it cleans up easily. The little dry erase markers all clip together so you can store them easily without them spilling out. You can tuck them inside a little stretchy elastic holder to keep them in place, then just throw all the magnets on one side and close the book. So it’s pretty easy for my son to pick up when dinner is ready with little fuss.

I was also really impressed with the dry erase markers, which had concerned me as I had never thought of them as a child’s toy – but apparently dry erase is all the rage right now as even Crayola has come out with dry erase crayons for kids! The markers in the kit are not fumey and wash off well when you get some on your fingers (inevitably). The caps on the markers are pretty easy to use and clipping all the markers together is kind of fun in and of itself.

My only note would be that we did notice a bit of residue from the markers pretty quickly – one red line that you can see pictured above didn’t come off well. It’s possible a little elbow grease will take care of that – and honestly, I have seen very few products, if any, where the marks always come clean. Kids are rough on their things, it’s a fact of life. But if anyone has a sure fire tip for getting rid of that red line, I’d love to hear it!

Basically, these kits really do provide endless fun, make clean up a breeze and for once it’s an activity that doesn’t require the endless printing or purchasing of paper goods making me one happy mom! If you are looking for a fun, portable, creative and eco-friendly project for your kids, I’d recommend the play, draw create kits for kids ages 3 & up. The kit retails at $16.99 and you can buy them directly from innovativeKids. Also, be sure to check out the rest of their Green Start line which features a ton of cool eco-friendly products for your kids.

Thanks to Kid Stuff PR and innovativeKids who provided the complimentary play, draw create kit for review in exchange for my honest opinion.