The mat consists of a square white fabric area in the middle, maybe two feet across, surrounded by a printed fabric border with the AquaDoodle name at the top, and the alphabet with accompanying doodles the rest of the way around. It's backed with plastic. You fill the included felt-tip-like pen with water and draw with that. The mat turns blue where you draw. As the water evaporates, which varies with how wet you get the thing, and it fades back to white. (My sister-in-law recommends keeping a camera handy to capture masterpieces right away.) The letters and doodles on the border are simple and thick-lined, and other than being filled in with colors they should be easily copied by a budding artist. There are a couple short ribbons at the top for tying it when rolled, and a loop for holding the pen;.so far we've never put it away so I can't say anything about their function or durability, but they look ok.
I did a search to find out how it works and managed to find a link to the patent. From reading that and examining the mat, it appears the drawing area fabric is white, printed with a blue square covering the drawable area, and covered with a white porous coating that turns translucent when wet. evidently the coating may be just a little bit water-soluble, because when my son left the pen resting on it a few hours with the tip touching the mat it made a big blue area that then faded as normal but with a faint blue ring around the edge and a somewhat less responsive drawing area inside it. They say to empty the pen between drawing sessions, and I have to agree with this recommendation. It's not a big problem, but I don't know if the effect would accumulate if it were done repeatedly.
The first time our son played with it I showed him how to make lines and he took right to it, initially making lots of straight parallel lines, pulling the pen toward himself. He still often likes to make lines, but now prefers to make them with a quick sideways stroke accompanied by a whoop or squeal. Mostly, though, he makes dots, some vigorously with splatters, and squiggles. He's also made lip prints; if I draw a face he will often point & laugh then kiss it. There's also been a sneeze or two; the spray of blue dots resulting from first one took me a bit by surprise.
He's also been learning the alphabet, or at least learning to recognize letters and their names & sounds, both from the LeapFrog My Own Leaptop he got for Christmas, and from a website my sister-in-law recommended: starfall.com. I mention it because when I wrote an "A" for him on the AquaDoodle he was able to name it with very little prompting and will now point out As around the house and elsewhere. We've been working on the rest of the alphabet since and he's able to tell me the names and sounds of a growing number of them as I write them.
All in all I'd say this was a very fun and, in the right hands, a very educational toy.
