30Pcs 3D Drawing Magic Canvas Sponge with Water Brush DIY Kids Painting Paper 3D Art Drawing Paper

This was a unique art activity that was a big hit with kids of all ages. I didn’t like that it came with no instructions, so we had to wing it. You get 30 sponge papers, with 10 of each shape (circle, rectangle and heart). These are super flattened and are slightly thicker than heavy cardstock. You also get 6 water brushes. Some have a wide brush head and some have thin brushes. You are clearly meant to fill these with water but it took me forever to figure out how! You want to twist them in the opposite direction than you think you should. I also found it easier to open them if the lid is on. From viewing the product page, I knew we were supposed to color these and then paint over them with water, but without instructions I had to make some guesses. We decided to use regular washable markers to design our sponges. Then we just painted over these with the water brushes and the sponge instantly started to expand. The great part about this was that it was fun for all ages. Each person could design as much or as little as they wanted and they all enjoyed watching the sponge expand. It was fun to add water to just parts of the sponge to watch small sections puff up while the rest remained flat. The colors we added to the sponge would run and blend a bit after water was added, but still looked very cool. The kids were a little bummed that after the sponges dried out their designs were no longer visible. They all still looked pretty cool though. We discovered that we can rinse them completely clean and redo the sponges once they dried. You won’t get quite the drastic puff up when adding water the second time around, but you still see some change. I think when the weather gets warmer we will use these with outside water play, so I don’t have to worry about the colors staining anything. This way we can color, play and reuse the sponges as many times as it will let us. I also plan to try one with permanent markers to see what happens there. I’ll update my review whenever I get around to that. Overall, this is a fun activity and was great for a group with varied ages. I think even very young kids would enjoy this. If you don’t trust them with a marker yet, you could design it and let them add the water. Though 30 sponge papers seem like a lot, the kids can go through them pretty quickly. I would love to see a refill pack, because you really won’t need more water markers.