What will uDraw?

Some time ago I wrote about the uDraw tablet for Wii.

Since then, I'm very pleased to say we've now joined the 21st century, and thanks to my brother, we have a Wii - hooray.  Not only that, but the lovely people at the world of uDraw, sent us a tablet to play with.  The tablet comes complete with uDraw studio instant artist, which is full of great features.



It took Ruby a little while to get the hang of, but being more computer literate that her Mummy, she soon sussed it and was quickly scribbling away.  Her artistic skills at aged 3 and a half aren't exactly developed, but I can see her getting more and more use out of the features and functions as she grows.  I also think it's going to be great to help her practise her writing and letters.  It's a mess free way of creating masses and masses of art, and sharing it with others.

The tablet is sturdy and robust and the stylus chunky enough for even little hands to master.  Ruby has great fun 'painting' on different 'surfaces' like cardboard, paper, chalkboard etc with different effects and techniques - you can even create 'graffiti' on a concrete background! ("Graffiti's naughty Mummy").

I tried to get some photos of her creating, but she kept throwing an artistic wobbly because I was disturbing her concentration!!

Artist at work

Take a look at the online gallery to see some of the amazing creations that are possible with the uDraw.

I have to say, that as a left-hander I found it slightly difficult to use.  The stylus can be used to draw with either the left or right hand, but the Wii remote contoller docks on the left hand side of the tablet, so I found myself crossing my hands over so I could draw with my left hand and press menu keys with my right.  The righties in my house had no trouble though. Also, we don't have the slimline Wii remote, so although ours works fine, it didn't slot in neatly as it's supposed to.

We were also sent a copy of Pictionary which was ace.  I love the traditional Pictionary game anyway, and this seemed more fun using the tablet than pen and paper.  The game suits my basic stick man style of drawing, and I'm pretty good at Pictionary.  I can see this becoming a firm favourite when we have friends round.

The uDraw tablet is available online and in store from all good games retailers.

Disclosure: We were sent a uDraw tablet and games to try for the purposes of this review.  However, no financial reward was paid and any views expressed are my own and are honest.