VTech - KidiArt Studio

Great birthday or Christmas present!! Highly recommend this. I bought this for my 5 year old niece for her birthday. Great family time activity, still easy enough that she can create her own photos, or e-cards, to show off to mom. You take photos with a real digital camera, hook the art desk up to a TV, use an art pad to add decorations, stickers and fun backgrounds to photos. It hooks up to the computer, so you can then email and print the photos or whatever else was created.

I had purchased this product for my 6 year old daughter and she has turned it on only 4 times.Although the product is solidly built the issues outweigh the fun making this rather expensive product a bad deal.

From one dad's perspective, here are the issues:

1.The camera is just terrible.My phone takes better pictures and that's no compliment to my phone.With the advancement in technology today, why would a camera take such bad pictures?There's no flash so the room has to be brightly lit.The camera cannot be detached from the arm on the drawing table so the person has to sit directly in front of it.Although the camera does rotate from front to back and auto rotates the perspective, so that's good.

2.The graphics are just horrible.To get a sense, if you have ever purchased one of those video games that come packaged in a joystick and you plug into a tv that's what it looks like.For some this may be acceptable.Here is an example (these graphics are much better):Jakks SpongeBob SquarePants TV Game

3.There is no AC Adapter (power plug).You have to use batteries or purchase the adapter seperately.The console really only requires 4 AA batteries but there is another compartment for backup batteries, which is another 4 AA batteries.I'm assuming the backup power is so that all work created is not deleted when changing the primary batteries.Again, the system can be used with the main batteries BUT you get a notification on screen periodically that there is no backup batteries.

4.There is an option to hook up your drawing table to a computer.We use a laptop to save my daughter's work but honestly, if you have a laptop or computer already, you can download free (open source) kid-friendly drawing software.My coworker told me about tuxpaint (http://www.tuxpaint.org/) which is basically paintshop for kids.I would imagine that if you had a half-way decent camera, you can probably load pictures in this program and have the same basic functionality.Your little ones may not like drawing with a mouse but you can surely purchase a notepad for the computer.Here is an example of one (not yet purchaded or reviewed):Genius MousePen 8 x 6-Inch Graphic Tablet for Home and Office.

Hope this helps.

Buy VTech - KidiArt Studio Now

I bought this toy for my 5 year old daughter.The first one came broken.The second one came and I put batteries in the main compartment and in the backup compartment.There is no wall charger, you have to buy that seperate.The batteries do not last very long.Before, she was finished playing with it for the first time her batteries died, even the back up ones.You would litterally have to have hundreds of batteries to play this.A wall charger is a must!

Read Best Reviews of VTech - KidiArt Studio Here

I bought this toy for my then 5 yr. old son for Christmas last year. My son is very creative and previously received the kids digital camera for his b-day, so I thought he might enjoy this. However, the material is cheap and very poor quality. The digital camera didn't function correctly and after one use, the desk fell apart. Although, there is a separate function that allows you to connectthe camera and art studio to the computer, it also didn't function correctly. I paid $60 for a piece of junk! Don't waste your money.

Want VTech - KidiArt Studio Discount?

We got this for our two girls (5 and 3) and it's probably a bit too hard for them to use.But if you get it for older children it could be too boring.

The idea is very cool and there are some neat things you can do..if you can move the pen correctly and click where you need to.There are so many things you can do but it's too complicated for younger children.My 5 year old has mostly just taken her picture with the camera and my 3 year old did take her picture and color on it once.

The problem really is that you click with the pen but if you press too hard it clicks when you don't want it to hence why there are 50 pictures of my 5 year old when we keep telling her to cancel!