The Nomad Play ($18) is the most beautiful of the kids' iPad styli we've tested. Designed to make art, it's an art object itself. But our kid and adult testers found its soft brush less practical than the AppCrayon's ($9.99, 4 stars) sturdy rubber tip.

The Nomad Play has a wooden handle and a soft brush at the end. The wooden handle is engraved—the green version has leaves, the red one flames, the blue one spaceships, and the yellow one a savannah wildlife scene. The thick, stubby body and 5-inch length fit well in our six-year-old tester Nina-Rose's hand.

The problem is, iPad and Android drawing apps don't read a brush as a brush. A brush, with its many fibers, creates a soft, full line with paint on paper. But this brush, in most kids' coloring apps, by default creates a line that doesn't match up with its size or shape. The long softness of the bristles and total lack of friction make it difficult to create precise lines, too. While there's something to be said for a friction-free brush stylus—Nomad's grownup Compose ($39, 3.5 stars) helped our adult artist make some great swooping lines—the kid just found it frustrating.

After a few minutes trying to color in Crayola ColorStudio HD with the Play, Nina-Rose gave up and said she'd rather use her finger. If a stylus doesn't beat your finger, then it's probably not worth buying.

For kids, we greatly prefer DanoToys' AppCrayon, a less expensive stylus which delivers better friction against the screen and a clearer connection between the stylus's tip and the line you're drawing.

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