Travel Toys: Water Wow! {And a Giveaway}

When traveling with kids, I've discovered a few must-have toys for entertainment. On our most recent adventure, I came across these Melissa and Doug Water Wow! boards and the girls love, love, love them. They're currently aged 2 and 5, and they both adored them equally. In fact, we stopped at the great-grandparents' house on our road trip and they were just as delighted and mystified as the kiddos!

We started out with two of the books: Fairy Tales and Animals and have since added Vehicles. They all come with a fillable water pen and are bound as a flip book. Each book contains four seemingly blank pages that change colors when you draw over them with the water pen.

These were by far the biggest hit on our road trip. I like that the pages can be used again and again because once they dry, the color fades and you can start over. It's seriously like magic.

There is also a look and find at the top of each page to expand play further.

We do all sorts of coloring in the car, but I love that I don't have to stress about ink or marker getting anywhere with these. At worst, a teaspoon or two of water spills if the cap comes unscrewed. But we've not had that happen, so I'm not worried.

I will say that these books aren't total perfection. For one, the name contains an exclamation point and so every time I type "Water Wow!" I feel ridiculous and annoying. Secondly, each Water Wow! (see?) book only contain four pages. I really feel like five would have made it seem more complete. Additionally, they can be a little awkward to store because of the pen holder on the front. I solved that by removing it completely and storing the boards and pens together in a clear bag.

It also took me a bit to figure out how to fill the pens without getting soaked in the car. I finally discovered that by taking a water bottle and pouring water into the "wrong" part of the pen and then dumping that into the "correct" part, life was much easier (and drier).

We loved the Water Wow! books so much that we also got the Splash Cards. I would say these aren't as beloved as the boards because there isn't as much surface to color, but there are more pages and they have more of an educational theme.

The storage boxes that these come in are a gigantic size compared to the product, so I got rid of those completely and stored the cards and pens in another clear bag.

For the price, I really think these are a great toy to have in your road trip kit. But if you don't feel like buying one, I thought it would be fun to do a little giveaway! Choose two simple steps and you're entered to win this Animal Water Wow! book.

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