Magic Glow Doodle Bear Review

My younger boys still aren't sleeping well through the night, so being given the chance to review a teddy bear with glow-in-the-dark features is great. The Magic Glow Doodle Bear is suitable for children aged 3+ and comes in a choice of either pink or blue - Starr or Artie.

We were offered Starr, the pink bear, which is my 6 year old's favourite colour. The boys were far more pleased then I expected, and were anxious to get the Doodle Bear out of the packaging and have a proper look.

 

The packaging is brilliant. Minimal and with no wires, nothing sewn to the cardboard, there are just 4 loose knots which took seconds to undo. 

I was really impressed with the size of the Doodle Bear, and how nice it felt to give it a cuddle. The material is very synthetic, but still pleasant to touch.

Starr is a very friendly looking bear with a nice smiley face, and interesting detail. The main fabric body is covered in a pattern of owls, stars, clouds and hearts. It is 'girly', but not sickly sweet.

Magic Glow Doodle Bear comes with two pens. One double-ended washable felt tip and stamp, and one special light pen. The stamp has a 'sunshine' pattern.

 

The felt tip is nice and chunky and really easy to use on the squishy fabric, although not easy to get perfect, and my boys' idea of 'art' was somewhat interesting!

The Magic Glow feature of our bear is fascinating to the boys and works really well. As with the Zombie Hexbug it's really hard to show the 'glow-in-the-dark', but we've tried.

The light pen activates the glow-in-the-dark material which is inside the entire front of the bear. You need to press hard into the bear to push in the tip of the pen and turn the light on. The bear's fabric glows really brightly for a second and then slightly duller for a few seconds more.

It's easy to write your name or draw a heart or other shape, and the effect actually reminded us of swirling sparklers in the air and trying to finish your design before the beginning disappeared.

I've raised the contrast on this photo so that you can see the 'glow-in-the-dark' a little better

The last thing to test is how well it washes. Doodle Bears shouldn't ever be tumble dried or heated with drawings on as it will permanently 'set' the ink, and only fully washable markers should be used. Wash within 48 hours for best results.

Stuff your bear into a pillow case to protect it from zips and buttons and things that catch, and wash it with your regular load. We washed at 30 degrees after 45 hours.

I'm impressed, it washed incredibly well with only a hint of blue ink left in a couple of spots - and a second wash would remove those traces. Doodle Bear can also be tumble dried, but I found it dried in under an hour on top of the radiator anyway.

The glow-in-the-dark feature is loads of fun and the boys love writing and drawing on the Magic Glow Doodle Bear in the dark. The bear itself is very well-made and after a wash looks and feels pretty much as good as new. It's a good toy and I don't think you'll be disappointed if it's what your child has asked for this Christmas.

Magic Glow Doodle Bear is priced around £25 and is available from a multitude of toy shops and department stores.

We were sent our Doodle Bear for review.