Pens and pencils

[Harrysmum]

Maybe this another silly question (I do feel like a very ignorant mother sometimes) but - when did you give your child their first set of pencils or crayons and what did you give them? Our ds is 1 and has discovered the joys of biros and can't get enough of scribbling (and, I must say, will only do so with the proper pincer grip which is very cute to watch). We would like to encourage him without having the walls redecorated or him ingesting whatever creative colouring tool we give him. He paints at nursery so no need for that at home! All suggestions welcome.

I'm not really sure I have the "correct" answer, but our little boy has always particularly enjoyed using biros as opposed to crayons. He does suck them sometimes but he doesn't appear to have come to any harm. We bought him lots of the special washable felt tips and crayons but biros are definitely his favourites.
As far as not having your walls redecorated, my suggestions would be to always try and encourage your son to sit down while drawing and endlessly repeat the mantra "only on paper". It also helps to grow eyes in the back of your head.

Mine were about one when they began to show an interest in being creative. They had thick wax crayons from ELC, which are easy to hold. ELC also do novelty shaped pencils and crayons. I think all crayons are non poisonous nowadays, Certainly, my dog has eaten several packs of wax crayons with a result no worse than rainbow coloured poo!

A roll of lining paper from B&Q is cheaper than paper from toy shops. You get lots for a couple of pounds and your child can really go to town on nice big pieces of paper. To prevent having your home redecorated by your little one, keep the crayons for supervised sessions only, making sure they can't be reached at when your back is turned.

A blackboard and easel with chalks are another option, if you don't mind the chalk dust.

Biros get my vote too. Both my sons started off with them. I can't speak for the youngest yet but my oldest never got into the very beginner wax crayons, and I soon saw why. A few years age we bought some jazzy flourescent ones from the ELC, but they were all mouth no trousers - great to look at but an insipid waxy pastel on paper. Even crayola crayons seem to have a tendency to be like this I think. I'd say if you buy crayons see if you can test them out first. At least you know where you are with biros and felt tips.

Chairmum, nice idea about lining paper.

Also, IKEA do a great blackboard at about £5.00 and chalks at about £3.00. The blackboard is roughly 50% bigger than an A3 size, and is flat, so you can put it anywhere. Ours is populuar with both the 2 year old and the 7 year old.

Whatever you do, you'd be a brave woman to let you toddlers get their fingers on those artists pastel oil colours sticks. I can just imagine the fingerprints they leave.

Sorry Tigermoth - beg to differ - I vote for ELC stumpy crayons from about the age of one. They last for ever - our 5yo is still using them!!! and they are good for solid colouring in rather than detail. Mind you I haven't tried the glitter ones. Buy a crayon and pencil sharpener set from ELC - maybe a couple of quid - they will give the stumpy crayons a new lease of life with a sort of point to them. The problem with the thinner crayola crayons is they have a tendency to snap - little hands can't control them so well. I can also vouch for wallpaper etc.
Felt tips and biros are great but you must supervise 100% - clothes, wallpaper (while its on the wall) if you are not careful and very difficult to remove. Get into the habit of laying down a plastic mat (these often come free with parenting magazines) for all craft activities then if they slip off the paper your table, carpet whatever is still in good form.

I'm with Tigermoth on the unsatisfying depth of colour provided by ELC crayons!. In our house, it is biros, felt tips and highlighters that are preferred. We have a large plastic coated tablecloth that we use to protect the table for drawing sessions. Also, our kitchen is painted in oil-based paint which means that most marks wipe off with ease in the event of accidents.

Ahh Madmaz, that's probably why my oldest never liked crayons as much as biros and felt tips. He wan't too keen on colouring in, preferring the quicker biro scribble. I'll have to look out for a crayon sharpener, sounds like a good thing to have.

My girls didn't get on with using biros because the paper tore. I wasn't keen on them having something as pointy as a biro for fear of accidents to themselves or the cat or me. And felt tips are much too messy at that age for my liking.

My youngest is a budding artist, I think. I was searching for a lost letter to return the reply slip to school today. I eventually found it. She'd decorated it with felt tip stampers and incorporated it into a collage with coloured tissue paper and confetti cut out with fancy scissors!!

Wow Bells2 - we use a plastic table cloth ALL the time, not just for drawing sessions. If I've got anyone I remotely want to impress, I try (and usually fail) to remember to put a cloth tablecloth on the kitchen table (it being something that spent many years in a neighbour's garage, so very scruffy).
I agree about the crayons, though - not enough colour and useless if your 4-year old is trying to do those join-the-dot pictures, which he really loves at the moment. Sounds like it's an age thing - crayons (and pencils) first, felt tips later.

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We have all sorts - crayons, wax crayons, and felt tips, and the boys enjoy working with all of them, for different effects. Wax crayons are essential for doing rubbings and so on.

Don't buy cheap felt tips - Crayola ones are great, and genuinely washable. They're more expensive, but worth the money.

Do encourage your child to hold a pen 'properly' even from early days - it does help.

Triangular pencils from ELC, GLTC and others help them to grip better.

Kmg, I take your point about good quality felt tips being better value, but it doesn't work that way in our house...they get eaten, dipped in porridge, thrown into a (full) bath and "planted" in the garden. We find the Woolworths packs an acceptable quality/value for money trade-off. But biros are best, aren't they...
Who else is fed up with not being able to find a good variety of non-hideous colouring books? My local ELC has dispensed with this stock in order to fit in more Bob the Builder Soft Stuff. Now that is never getting past the front door.

The best colouring in resource we've found is from the internet - BBC website. I've downloaded master copies of Tweenies, Bob the Builder, Teletubbies, Postman Pat, etc. colouring in, and then make photocopies. Our children love them, and so do visiting friends. They much prefer them to any colouring in books we've found.

We gave ds a blackboard and thick crayola coloured chalk at 1 year old. He loved it and could do this whenever he wanted without petrified parents worrying about the walls and furniture! He did occasionally decorate the walls but is rubd=s right off! At 18 months he progressed to crayola "My First Crayons", very thick and easy for him to hold and at 2 years he received his first packet of coloured pencils (also big, thick ones that are easy for him to hold). He loves them all to death and alternates which ones he prefers to draw with now (at nearly 2.5 years). We still supervise him, though, with paper and crayons/pencils.

Thanks for your replies. We bought him ELC triangular pencils at the weekend which he seem to like esp as he prefers to hold pencils properly and these make it quite easy. Only the black one is very effective at the moment as he hasn't quite sussed the need to press down to make more of an impression. However, at £1.29 for 6 lovely colours and probably endless amusement it seems like an inexpensive way of making him happy. Maybe a blackboard and chalk would be a good present for Christmas.

Dd (not quite 2) has had access to felt tips via her older brother for a long time now. She loves them, but we've made sure they're very washable ones because she often colours in her hands, which she finds very amusing indeed. I just insist that all colouring is done at the kitchen table, which has a plastic tablecloth over it. However, the other day she did try to colour the cat blue, which didn't impress said mog very much!

I bought my ds a blackboard and chalks which he loves - and I hate because of the dust. We then bought a whiteboard (from office stationery store) and washable whiteboard pens. This has the same advantage as a blackboard - ie constantly reusable - but none of the mess! Plus it's magnetic so my fridge door is actually visible again.