Help 1-and-2-Year-Olds Learn to Color With Crayola Palm Grip Crayons

Crayola palm grip crayonsWondering how to help a 1 and 2-year-old learn to color?   

Beginning at one year of age, if you give a 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 literally last only a few seconds.  As children get older, their ability to scribble will evolve more, as they produce more specific crayon strokes that are the prerequisites to handwriting and forming letters when in preschool. 

Palm-grip crayons, shown above, make it easier for children to hold the crayon, and have more success making a mark and scribbling on the crayon.

These products were received to facilitate a product review for free from Crayola. Any opinions are my own. This website also participates in an Amazon affiliate program, where if you should click on any links, at no cost to you, this website may receive a small amount of commission.

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 crayons.

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!

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 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.

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.


These products were received to facilitate a product review for free from Crayola. Any opinions are my own. This website also participates in an Amazon affiliate program, where if you should click on any links, at no cost to you, this website may receive a small amount of commission.

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