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.

Gavin is now 7 months and he LOVES photographs.  He will look, smile, talk to and touch pretty much any photograph we give him. We joke that he’s so photo oriented because his father is a photographer, but due to his love for pictures, we have turned his Sassy Look Book into a personal photo album that includes pictures of us, him, his grandparents, friends and the family dog. What better way to promote language than to use real pictures of the people and things that are constants in his life!

Younger infants a few months old may enjoy focusing for a few seconds on the patterns.  You can also move the book side to side from left to right, or up and down to work on visually tracking an object in their visual field.

Babies also have a preference for smiling faces, so like we did, turn your Sassy Look Book into your family photo album with all the smiling faces of your nearest and dearest.

Other developmental skills that can be promoted using this photo album can include:

- For a child having difficulty separating from you, include pictures of the child, the car, daycare, mom/dad at work and pictures of the child with you at the end. Read the book telling their individual story and reiterate not to worry that you will come back!

- Pictures of the daily schedule can be included for visual reminders of the days events (child eating breakfast, getting dressed, in the car, school, home, dinner, bedtime). This can be helpful for some children who need pictures to assist them with structure and routine.

- Many young children can use a photo album as communication device where you can put pictures of a sippy cup, favorite foods, and favorite toys so they can get their  needs met by pointing to a picture of something they want to minimize frustration until they can say the word.

- Encourage the child to turn the pages and use an isolated index finger to point to the pictures.

- Some children have difficulty regrouping after temper tantrums, take pictures of them resting in a quiet space, reading a book, eating a snack or drawing, so when they are frustrated they can identify a picture of a preferred activity that allows them to settle back into the routine if they are too frustrated to be able to tell you what they need.

Sassy provided the Look Book free to facilitate my review. However, the ideas and opinions provided in this post are purely the bloggers own.

Crayon Buddies

At what age should my child color?  Beginning at one year of age, if you give your child a crayon, they may begin to hold the crayon, place it on the paper and imitate you moving your hand back and forth to produce a scribble.  Expect attention for this activity at this age, to last literally seconds.  As they get older, their ability to scribble more will evolve to produce more specific crayon strokes that are the prerequisites to handwriting.

Many times parents tell me they become frustrated that their children have a hard time coloring for any length of time. Here are some ideas to assist your child with learning to focus on the love of coloring using the Crayola Beginnings Products!

1. First,  you will need to teach your child the concept of coloring and what to do with the crayon or marker, especially since it will probably go right into their mouth.  If you have not transitioned away from using a pacifier, for those kid’s that are very oral, if you give them the pacifier before the crayon it may not go into the mouth and could help their attention!

Crayola First Marks

Otherwise, if they attempt to place it in their mouth, distract them by redirecting their hand to the paper to color using hand over hand assistance.

2.  Place your child in a booster seat or a high chair when coloring and set up a routine.  They won’t be tempted to color the wall if they are not given free reign to roam the home! Sit with them and offer

Crayola Tub Crayons

two choices of crayons or markers, one for each hand, and don’t give them the whole stash! If they color the tray by accident you should be able to wipe it clean easily with these washable products. If they are in a booster seat at the table, use a plastic placemat under the paper to protect the table.  Even better, Crayola has created tub crayons, if you are worried about the mess, practice in the tub!

3.  Generally speaking, one and two year olds are capable of scribbling randomly. At two years of age, some children are imitating simple strokes such as repeatedly making dots, a vertical line and horizontal line after you demonstrate them.

Crayola Easy Stampers

4.  Crayola’s products are excellent at this age, as shorter, fatter tools prove to be the best for grasp development, allowing for more control.  Even better, the Crayola Beginnings products have a nice rounded bottom to assist with developing a fingertip grasp pattern for better control.