Here’s my favorite back to school list of Crayola crayons and markers listed by Older Elementary, Kindergarten, Preschool and Toddler Ages!

Older Elementary School Age: These tools promote a more refined grasp for lengthier coloring!

Crayola Regular Crayons - break them in half!

Crayola Total Tools Colored Pencils

Crayola Colorwave Markers

Kindergarten (5 and up): Shorter, fatter writing instruments help promote a more mature hold

Crayola Beginnings Triangular Crayons

Crayola Pip-Squeaks Markers

Peschooler (3 and up): Smaller, thicker tools promote a tripod style grasp pattern

Crayola Beginnings Washable Triangular Markers

Crayola Twistable Slick Stix - great for kids that tire easily!

Crayola Beginnings Triangular Crayons

Toddler (12-18 months and up): Look for large, rounded bottoms that help promote a fingertip hold!

Crayola Washable Tadoodles Markers

Crayola Beginnings Tadoodles Crayons

Though Crayola has provided the Tadoodles markers, Tadoodles crayons, and Triangular Markers  free for review, the remaining products I purchased for use. The opinions in this blog are purely the bloggers own.

The Clay Center with Play-Doh comes with LOTS of items that include: rolling pins, scissors, molds, stampers, extruders, body part pieces, sculpting tools and 4 cans of Play-Doh in its own tool kit.

So how does the Clay Center with Play-Doh help with Back to School? Easy, use it to help your child review their skills before they return in the Fall:

- Any smooshing, squeezing, pinching and pulling will help rev those hand muscles back into shape for better endurance during pencil/paper tasks

- For preschoolers, use the body part pieces to review body part awareness by making a person. Encourage them to draw a person after they have made their own Play-Doh person to reinforce the positioning of head, body, feet, arms, etc.

- Roll out the putty into long “snakes,” using the scissors with a “thumbs up” position, cut the snakes up into several pieces to get those hands ready for scissor cutting control!

- If you have older children who know their letters, encourage them to make different letters with the Play-Doh, have an alphabet strip nearby from them to look at to help their memory, or push the playdoh onto a letter tracing card.

- Use the purple sculpting tools and hold them in a tripod fashion (using thumb, index and middle finger) with a good grasp and draw letters or words into the Play-Doh.

I would also recommend adding some Ziploc bags to this kit to help keep some of the smaller pieces sorted. If this kit ever got dumped over, the pieces would be everywhere!

Make sure to check out the Constructive Playthings website for other back to school and learning toys.

The GIVEAWAY this month is a Clay Center with Play Doh for one lucky person!

Mandatory Entry-

1. For a mandatory entry go to www.toyqueen.com and click through the blue Constructive Mom button on the right hand side to enter the Constructive Playthings website.  Leave a comment under this post about another great back to school toy that you saw on the Constructive Playthings website. Remember, anytime you click through to the website using this button, you will get 15% off your entire purchase!

Extra Credit Entries- Make sure to leave a comment under this post if you complete any of the following.

1. Follow @ConstructiveMom and @Toyqueen on Twitter

2. Like Constructive Playthings on Facebook and ToyQueen on Facebook

This Giveaway will end on Wednesday August 18th at 11:59 p.m. EST

I received products from Constructive Playthings in return for review. All opinions are my own.