Klutz expands its line of Star Wars activity books with Star Wars Thumb Doodles. The concept is simple to kids to grasp. First, you use the four ink pads on the side of the book to make fingerprints on the page. Next, you add details with the two-color pencil — shaped like a light saber — and black marker.
The 40-page Star Wars Thumb Doodles book includes step-by-step instructions for creating characters from both trilogies — although it leans heavily towards the original three movies. Kids can learn to create cartoon versions of Luke, Leia, Han, and lots of others.
Each page has some space for kids to test out the directions for themselves, but you’ll want to have extra paper nearby to keep going. One nice feature are the spreads that give you a background to fill with characters, like the Mos Eisley cantina or Jabba’s palace.
There are also pages with panels to try putting characters like Yoda and C-3PO in different situations. One page gets you started doodling “the many moods of Darth Vader,” including on the run and snoozing.
As someone who teaches art to kids, what I like about the thumb doodle books is that they encourage them to combine unlikely elements, and to look for inspiration in random marks. It also shows kids some of the conventions of drawing comics (such as motion lines and zzzzz’s), as well as how to create different facial expressions and body positions.
As with all Klutz books, the spiral binding and heavy paper make it easy to use. The ink pads, pencil and marker all store neatly in the box attached to the side of the book. I like that kids are encouraged to get messy — something that is not often encouraged nowadays!
But based on comments from some reviewers, parents might want to spread some paper underneath the book to protect table tops, and throw a smock or old t-shirt over your kids clothes to deal with the inevitable moment when they go to wipe off their hands on the nearest thing handy. Keeping a damp paper towel nearby is also recommended.
All in all, the Star Wars Thumb Doodles book from Klutz is another great addition to their line of art books, and will be appreciated by all the Star Wars fans in your family.
A copy of this book was provided for review purposes.
