I need consumer recommendations. What are the best watercolors and crayons and pastels for a 4.5 year-old?
I am sick of the cheap stuff. We have one of those combo kits from a big-box art supply store that probably cost $19.95 and it is simply not worth it. I was up coloring with her last night and I immediately wanted to quit, no wonder she often does too. I think she is old enough and focused enough to have good supplies now, but the offerings are daunting, please tell me what brands you have in your home that you love. I want vibrant colors and durability, PLEASE! and thank you
8 comments:
I would imagine that any Melissa and Doug product would be reliable and good quality, as well as washable, but haven't invested in anything thus far. I'd also be interested in recommendations!
I love Crayola. Still much less expensive than some brands, but very durable. Not sure if they have pastels, but I love their watercolors, poster paints, and markers.
Please don't buy anything from Melissa and Doug.
For art supplies, most Melissa and Doug products are imitations of ALEX brand, which is a great, relatively inexpensive brand for the very young artist.
If you want to use the next step up, go with Faber Castell, they are a great, real artists brand which also makes children's art supplies. The triangle grip Faber Castell crayons and colored pencils are really fabulous.
http://www.juliestuff.com/Pages/FaberCastellArtSupplies.htm
Now, once you have some good stuff, you can work on taking care of it, so go to Etsy and get your daughter a super cute crayon holder.
http://www.etsy.com/search_results.php?search_type=tag_title&search_query=kids+crayon+holder
Order all this stuff now and plan to fill her Easter basket with it, then you can work it into your budget as both school supplies and gifts, and it so much better than candy and dollar store toys!
MaryAlice, this reminds me, I once saw at your house a wooden marker holder in which you stand the 8 basic colors, standard size. What is this fine piece of equipment? The marker-in-a-bag setup that we currently have going is a bad deal, what's a kid to do other than uncap them all at once then leave them rolling around on the floor after moving onto a different activity. The wooden block marker holder looked like a great solution (that plus a little better discipline by me). I keep meaning to ask you what that was.
Here is something similar:
http://www.briansschoolstuff.com/BSS/marker_holder___________________.htm
we like it alot, it came from a kindergarten classroom. We just keep our colored pencils and crayons in a cup, but we have awesome handmade pencil pouches for travel, we keep on in the car, backpacks, etc.
I too vote for Crayola. They have good colors and work well. Really, color with a Crayola crayon next to another brand. It is distinctly different. They have washable versions of markers, crayons, and pencils too. We didn't go up to artist style things until age 7 or so with dd who is very into art.
MaryAlice, why don't buy anything from Melissa and Doug? Just art supplies or anything at all?
That marker holder looks great and what an excellent idea these are for an Easter basket filler.
AWOL, thanks for this post!
I think the marker holder is a great idea. My 2 and 4yodd's are terrible about leaving the caps off. My dad is really handy and I think that he can make one for the girls (with new markers for their Easter baskets).
My dh is concerned that the girls will not put them back in the holder. Then I'll have a hunk of wood with lids in it and still have lidless markers around. How hard was it to train your children, MaryAlice?
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