What’s included:

• Digital camera
• USB cable
• 8GB MicroSD Card
• Shoulder strap
• Sticker sheet
  

TLDR – capture high-quality images with ease with the Photo Creator Pop Colour Digital Camera. This vibrantly coloured (available in teal and purple), compact, lightweight camera, takes high-resolution pictures and videos. It has a large 2.4″ screen, flash, 20 fun photo frames, numerous filters and two lenses.

Performance, features and our experiences with the Photo Creator Pop Colour Digital Camera

The setup was wonderfully easy. The camera charges up quickly; its built-in rechargeable battery allows for hours of creative fun on a single charge and the in-built memory means you’re good to go immediately. However, the 8GB microSD card substantially extends the memory capacity and is a significant bonus, especially considering the camera’s modest price point. The intuitive interface means kids can start snapping and customising their shots with minimal or no assistance.

The camera’s 32-megapixels pack a punch, producing sharp, crisp photos and enabling high-quality video recording. Its numerous customisation options and features include:

• 20 fun frames
• Built-in filters to change the mood of each shot
• Three picture shooting
• Timer
• Dedicated selfie lens

The girls loved experimenting with the filters, which range from black and white, and sepia to warm and cool colour tones. The wide selection of borders really up the entertainment factor. The back lens, specifically for taking selfies, is really good and adjusts seamlessly according to the light.

“The camera had lots of fun filters and borders. It was cool trying a new way to take photos and seeing how the light settings changed automatically. The cyber-shot effect was really fun to experiment with!”

Final Thoughts

The Photo Creator Pop Colour Digital Camera is a great, fun, easy-to-use camera, which will appeal to both younger and older tweens and teens. It’s affordable, takes great-quality pictures and has plenty of features, which will hold children’s attention. The fun effects will appeal across the age range and younger ones will love the stickers, which they can use to customise their camera. It’s ultra-lightweight but sturdy and perfect for small hands. The 2.4” colour display is a great size for kids to view and edit their shots easily. My one criticism is that the memory card is rather fiddly to insert.

Great value at £29.99, the Photo Creator Pop Colour Digital Camera is available from Smyths and other outlets.

Disclaimer:
I have been provided with this product for the purpose of review. I have not received any monetary compensation for this review. All opinions expressed are my own and are based on my honest and unbiased experience with the product.

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Instant printer that’s quick, portable, child-friendly and lots of fun

TLDR: This small, nifty Bluetooth printer from Canal Toys enables quick, easy and quality printing directly from smart devices. When used with the free Tiny Print app you can print photos, generate AI images, create and print drawings and stickers, make printable to-do lists and labels, and apply special effects to existing images. The kit also contains stickers and marker pens for customising your designs after printing.

Check out the review of the Photo Creator Pop Colour Digital Camera

What’s included

• The Instant Pocket Printer
• 1 adhesive paper roll (to print on)
• 3 normal paper rolls (to print on)
• USB charger cable
• 75 stickers
• Three pens to customise your prints

How to use the Instant Pocket Printer

The printer is really easy to set up. It uses very clever thermal technology to produce the black and white images so no ink is required. Yes, you heard that right. That means no messy ink cartridges to contend with and images dry instantly. Charge its built-in-battery via the USB cable, load the paper roll, install the free app and you’re ready to go.

Our experiences

The app is very easy to navigate. We spent a lot of time printing up some of our favourite images from holiday. The printing is really fast; the quality is very good and images are crisp with no bleed. The images are so good in fact, that my eldest has used them as part of her GCSE art coursework.

The girls then had lots of fun experimenting with all the really cool features. They cartooned themselves, made linear drawing of themselves (from existing photos), prompted the AI image creator to generate weird and wonderful creations and personalised their photos with text.

Their two-year-old cousin has a ticket obsession. She loved the printable labels and the stock images of animals (amongst many other categories), which she could colour.

This would certainly appeal to both tweens and older teenagers. Whilst it says age 8+ on the box, younger ones would definitely enjoy with adult supervision. I think this would make a super Christmas gift.

The Photo Creator Instant Pocket Printer is available at various retailers including Amazon & Smyths where it’s priced at £29.99.

Disclaimer:
I have been provided with this product for the purpose of review. I have not received any monetary compensation for this review. All opinions expressed are my own and are based on my honest and unbiased experience with the product.

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Cyanotype photography

My daughter Sofia is doing art GCSE and is always exploring different mediums. We were introduced to cyanotype photography by my uncle who uses this technique – amongst others – to create wonderful art works. It involves laying an object on cyanotype paper (paper pre-coated with an iron salt solution, which is pretty cheap to buy), before exposing it to UV light.

5 easy steps to creating cyanotype masterpieces

Step one

Head outside and collect any interesting things you find. We’ve so far stuck with flowers and leaves that have eye-catching shapes. 

Step two

Indoors away from direct sunlight, remove your cyanotype paper and arrange the object/s on top.

Step three

Place a plate of glass carefully over the top. We used the glass out of an old picture frame. You don’t have to do this but it flattens the object for a crisper end result and helps prevent movement.

Step four

Leave in sunlight for three-to-five minutes on a clear sunny day and up to 20 minutes if it’s overcast. When the paper turns a mid-to-dark blue it’s ready. It is not an exact science and we’ve had a couple that are slightly over- or under-exposed. Experimentation is the name of the game.

Step five

Remove the object/s and rinse under the tap for several minutes to remove all of the chemicals. The print will become darker. Then just leave to dry. Easy!

Cyanotype prints

A few of Sofia’s efforts below. As you can see, these have had different exposure times. It’s fun creating different effects and there isn’t really a right or wrong. Enjoy the process!

If you want to experiment further, you can coat your own paper, card or even material with a cyanotype chemical mix. This is next on the to do list.

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