Lara was a very lucky girl this year - Idealo sent her a birthday gift, the Barbie Design and Dress Studio doll and fashion kit as part of their research into top toys for 2013. This was Lara's first Barbie doll and I think it was a great introduction because it appeals to her strong creative side. Lara spends most evenings tucked away in our dining room drawing, cutting, sticking and generally creating works of art and the Barbie Design and Dress studio encourages that.
The Barbie Design and Dress Studio features one Barbie doll (with a very impressive pair of heels that make me cringe simply looking at them) and a removable necklace. She comes with one plain pink dress and a kit of 4 more different coloured dresses for you to design and decorate as you wish.
Each dress has a very simple shape and is encased in a small paper packet that makes you think of fashion drawings. The kit includes two stencils for drawing patterns on the fabric, three different coloured pens. There are also a few sparkly stickers for the finishing touches to a dress. When your child has finished designing and decorating the dress, they simply slot it out of the paper packet and dress up Barbie. They can make different dress designs for different occasions!
I think the concept is great; originally I was worried that once those 5 dresses had been designed then all you really had left was a simple Barbie doll but I've found out now that I can buy top-up sets of dresses and stickers to give the set a new lease of life in the future, should we need it. I would say that I found the pens to 'bleed' a little on the fabric so it was quite hard for Lara to get a very accurate design but it may just be that she is a bit young to get the most from the stencils and pens (the set is recommended for age 5+).
The Barbie Design and Dress Studio has been a perfect introduction to Barbie for Lara because it it a lot more than just a doll or dress-up toy.
The Barbie Design and Dress Studio features one Barbie doll (with a very impressive pair of heels that make me cringe simply looking at them) and a removable necklace. She comes with one plain pink dress and a kit of 4 more different coloured dresses for you to design and decorate as you wish.
Each dress has a very simple shape and is encased in a small paper packet that makes you think of fashion drawings. The kit includes two stencils for drawing patterns on the fabric, three different coloured pens. There are also a few sparkly stickers for the finishing touches to a dress. When your child has finished designing and decorating the dress, they simply slot it out of the paper packet and dress up Barbie. They can make different dress designs for different occasions!
I think the concept is great; originally I was worried that once those 5 dresses had been designed then all you really had left was a simple Barbie doll but I've found out now that I can buy top-up sets of dresses and stickers to give the set a new lease of life in the future, should we need it. I would say that I found the pens to 'bleed' a little on the fabric so it was quite hard for Lara to get a very accurate design but it may just be that she is a bit young to get the most from the stencils and pens (the set is recommended for age 5+).
The Barbie Design and Dress Studio has been a perfect introduction to Barbie for Lara because it it a lot more than just a doll or dress-up toy.
