Review: The British Made Carddies

Lucan was kindly sent a set of Carddies last weekend. So, he and I spent an afternoon trying out this fun new toy.

Carddies are themed sets of card characters, with a card backdrop, that you colour in. In the box are a set of 12 cut out figures, the backdrop, a set of pencil crayons and some clear plastic stands to make your characters stand up. We were sent a box with a Knights theme which included, what appear to be both male and female knights as well as the obligatory damsels in distress and a dragon. The fun starts with the colouring in. The characters have both a front and a back that can be coloured so we both set to work. It took us about 30-40 minutes to get all of the basic stuff coloured in. We then decided that we would put on a little play for mummy.

Our play was somewhat reminiscent of Mallory’s Le Morte d’Arthur in both content and elaboration…. but lasted about 7 minutes before Lucan began eating the heads off his characters.

The fun part for us was actually colouring in the figures. It is here that my Masters degree in fine art and Lucan’s enthusiasm really came to life. Mrs B was suitably impressed with the Carddies concept too. She felt that, as a teacher, she could use them in the class room to make little stop-motion animations. This seems like another great way of extending the fun.

All in all the Carddies are a neat idea for a wet Spring afternoon to occupy the kids (both little and big).

You can get your Carddies from: www.carddies.com

– James