Scratch and Sketch book question

[KrisM]

I bought this for DS: http://www.amazon.com/Solar-System-Scratch-Sketch-Inquisitive/dp/159359917X/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1280272494&sr=8-6.

What is he supposed to do with it? Does he use the pencil to draw a picture on the black page?

There aren't any directions with the book, and by the name and what it says on the back, I thought he'd scratch away the black and there would be a picture. But, we've scratched more than half the page and nothing. So, I'm guessing it's a drawing book for trying to draw space objects. If so, what's the point of this versus a sheet of paper and a crayon? I bought it thinking it was different than that and that my non-artsy kid would enjoy it.

Thanks.

[fivi2]

Scratch magic! We love those at our house. They use the little pencil shaped wooden tool included to "draw" pictures by scratching away the black. So nothing appears (except different colors, sparkles, etc) other than whatever you draw.

Sorry if it wasn't what you were hoping for. Maybe one of the Taro Gomi books (ie http://www.amazon.com/Scribbles-Really-Giant-Drawing-Coloring/dp/0811855090/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1280275693&sr=1-1)
would be more what you were looking for?

[LMPC]

Hmmm, I checked out the link and from what I can see, it does look like he is supposed to scratch away the black.....but not to reveal something underneath....to draw a picture. How to explain what I mean....ummm, most of the black will be left and the scratches will be the picture. So by scratching away some of the black, he can make a drawing. I hope I am making sense...we used to do this in elementary school First, we would paint a piece of paper all sorts of colors....then we would cover the entire page with black crayon...really thick black so that none of the color showed through. Then we would go back with a sharp object (like the edge of our scissors) and scratch away some of the black to make a picture.

Does that make *any* sense? Feel free to say 'no' :)

[vonfirmath]

My son LOVES those. Because the picture is a rainbow of colors. Goregeous!

[KrisM]

My son LOVES those. Because the picture is a rainbow of colors. Goregeous!

Thanks everyone. Vonfirmath - where do you get a rainbow. We get gray or maybe white if we scratch hard enough.

I'm sure this will not be something he goes back too :(.

The book is misleading, IMO. The back shows a picture that is exactly like the one in the printed book. So, the kid is going to be able to perfectly copy it by scratching with the pencil? really? I could not draw a detailed picture of the Hubble Telescope, but I guess many 6 year olds can :). Oh well. I think I have a friend who's son would enjoy this.

[Cuckoomamma]

My daughter just got the safari one for her birthday and she loves it. She does have some drawing ability, as I'm shocked at how well her drawings looked. I told her that if I tried to do it, I would have been very frustrated because I have 0 drawing ability.

For the one where she draws a giraffe, the part you scratch off is of a giraffe print. Each page of hers has a different pattern underneath the black. Maybe because yours is of the solar system, the colors just aren't as impressive when you scratch off the black?

[kristenk]

where do you get a rainbow. We get gray or maybe white if we scratch hard enough.

We don't have the solar system version, but we have a few other types of scratch & sketch books. I'm not positive, but I think that most of our pages have a rainbow swirl pattern under the black coating, so the design that you scratch away is revealed in the rainbow print.

I don't know if the solar system book does this, but some of the books that I've seen have designs printed on the black scratch-off pages so you can just follow the lines with your pencil/scratcher tool.

[KrisM]

My daughter just got the safari one for her birthday and she loves it. She does have some drawing ability, as I'm shocked at how well her drawings looked. I told her that if I tried to do it, I would have been very frustrated because I have 0 drawing ability.

For the one where she draws a giraffe, the part you scratch off is of a giraffe print. Each page of hers has a different pattern underneath the black. Maybe because yours is of the solar system, the colors just aren't as impressive when you scratch off the black?

Maybe it's different? There is nothing but white under the black. We tried scratching in various places on the page. I think he's supposed to free hand it.


We don't have the solar system version, but we have a few other types of scratch & sketch books. I'm not positive, but I think that most of our pages have a rainbow swirl pattern under the black coating, so the design that you scratch away is revealed in the rainbow print.

I don't know if the solar system book does this, but some of the books that I've seen have designs printed on the black scratch-off pages so you can just follow the lines with your pencil/scratcher tool.

Okay, I see now that we have 5 glow-in-the-dark, 5 gold and silver, 10 swirl pages. No raainbow, although there is a rainbow guy on the back, so maybe the swirl is a rainbow? There are no lines on the black pages.