Boogie Board Play n’ Trace eWriter review

I’ve always liked to draw and doodle, but when I was a kid, I did it all the time. I used to trace comic book characters to help me figure out how to draw them on my own. I would have loved a Boogie Board Play n’ Trace back eWriter back then. You may already be familiar with Boogie Board eWriters from the reviews we’ve done, but this one is different. It’s translucent. The Play n’ Trace will help  kids as young as three years old learn to write their ABC’s and 123’s by tracing over them. Let me show you how it works.

Note: Images can be clicked to view a larger size.

What’s in the box?

Play n’ Trace
3 tracing cards
Stylus
2 AAA batteries pre-installed

The Play n’ Trace is an oval artist’s palette shaped plastic frame with a translucent light blue LCD drawing surface in the center and a stylus holder on the right side.

Along the top edge is the screen clear button.

And on the back is the battery compartment. The Boogie Board Play n’ Trace is powered by 2 AAA batteries which are included with the device and are pre-installed. The batteries will power the Play n’ Trace for up to 5 years before they need to be replaced.

Just like the other Boogie Board eWriters that we’ve reviewed, you can write on the drawing surface with the included stylus or your fingernail.  The plastic stylus can be held either way to draw thick or thin lines.

Parents will appreciate the no mess aspects of this drawing toy when compared to crayons, markers or chalk. But the coolest feature of the Play n’ Trace is that you can see through it. Using one of the included cards, kids will love learning to write their ABC’s, abc’s, and numbers just by tracing over them.

A simple press of the button on the top edge of the drawing surface will clear the screen so that you can start over again with a clean slate. Unfortunately there isn’t a way to clear certain parts of the screen. It’s all or nothing.

The drawing surface is light colored as are the drawings. It can be a little hard to see what you’ve drawn depending on the angle of the Play n’ Trace board.

The Play n’ Trace comes with three cards, but there are five Play n’ Trace Accessory Packs that can be purchased separately to continue the fun. They include: Learning Pack, Sea Life, Farm Friends, Space Adventures, Princess Dream; each Accessory Pack includes 2 reusable cling scenes, 1 brush stylus and 6 tracing templates.

There’s also an iOS Play n’ Trace app for the iPad that can be used with the board. It includes games like maze you see above along with learning games to teach them their letters, numbers, colors, shapes, etc. Just load the game and place the Play n’ Trace over the iPad’s display.

In addition to tracing existing drawings, kids can even trace objects just by placing the Play n’ Trace over the object. Kids and kids at heart can have fun with this inexpensive drawing toy.

If you have a child who is getting ready to start school or who likes to draw, the Boogie Board Play n’ Trace will let them have fun while learning and creating. And parents might want to play with it too!

Source: The sample for this review was provided by Boogie Board. Please visit their site for more info and Amazon to order.