Octaland ColourMe! Augmented Reality Coloring Book

Colour in a character, scan the page with the free Octaland 4D+ Occupation app, and watch it pop up as an animated 3D figure in exactly the colours your child used. Pencils, crayons, felt tips, paints, glitter, collage, whatever they like working with, the app reads the finished page and carries the colours and textures through to the 3D model. It’s a colouring book with a twist that also sneaks in a bit of learning about jobs.

There are 26 characters, one for each letter of the alphabet, each based on a real profession: Albert the Astronaut, Charlotte the Chef, Daisy the Dancer, Eddie the Engineer, Lucy the Librarian, Zack the Zookeeper and so on. Kids pick up a little about different careers while they play, and the A to Z format doubles up as alphabet practice for younger ones. The app runs in several languages, which is handy for bilingual households or classrooms.

How it works
Download the app (free on the App Store and Google Play) and enter the serial number from the book. Colour a page, then point your phone or tablet at it and the character appears in 3D on screen. You can move around it, see it animate and take photos of the result.

Unlimited play
Once the book is activated, the pages can be photocopied as many times as you like. Colour the same character ten different ways, hand copies out to a class or a party, or just let a younger sibling have a go without arguing over the original.

In the box
28 pages: 26 character pages (A to Z), a cover and an instruction page. One serial number, which unlocks the app on up to three devices.

Details
Size: 29.7 x 20.8 x 0.7 cm, 218 g. Book is in English.
App: iOS 9 or later (49 MB), Android 6.0 or later (47 MB). Some older devices aren’t supported, so ask us if you’re unsure about yours.

A good pick for a birthday gift, a classroom activity or for anyone after something a bit more hands-on than a standard colouring book.