I have to say, I was SUPER EXCITED when the Crayon Rocks company offered to send me some products to review (or, should I say, for my toddler to review. - But, honestly, I couldn't wait to try these babies too!!!) I orginally saw these little gems on Amazon while looking for a good crayon for my toddler. Since my little one is not yet 2 years old, its so hard to find a crayon that works for her. Regular crayons are just too thin and hard to grasp. Even those triangular "toddler" crayons seem to snap in two every time she tries to use one. They also don't leave much color on the paper. My little one uses a light touch (having not yet learned that she needs to bare down) and so she very rarely gets much color on the paper. This causes her to lose interest, and well, just put the crayon in her mouth. Enter Crayon Rocks... :)
Crayon RocksTM are made in America
from natural soy wax, using
American-grown soy beans. Non-toxic and conforms to ASTM D 4236.
American-grown soy beans. Non-toxic and conforms to ASTM D 4236.
So what makes Crayon Rocks different? Well, all the problems I mentioned above have been addressed! The creator of Crayon Rocks, Barbara Lee, says on their website:
"I have been teaching children with special needs for 23 years. I
invented Crayon Rocks after being inspired by Jan Olsen, OTR, and the Handwriting Without Tears program. I learned from her how
important it was to develop early a good tripod grip. Handwriting
skills depends upon this. Since a child's first writing tool is
usually a crayon, that crayon should be one that encourages him or her
to use thumb, first and second fingers in a tripod grip. This
is what makes Crayon Rocks a wonderful tool for fine motor
development. A really good crayon should take very
little effort in applying great swaths of color to the paper. In fact,
that crayon should be as much like paint as possible. Great colors that go on
smoothly and easily, helping little fingers to grow strong as they
spill their creative ideas on to paper."
Another BIG PLUS to the Crayon Rocks is that they are made of natural soy wax, and so they are non-toxic! This is SUCH a relief to me, considering how many times things "end up" in my little one's mouth - which they did as soon as I gave them to her. ;)
The generous folks at Crayon Rocks sent my little one four packages of crayons to try, and I have to admit, I opened them up as they came! And I couldn't WAIT for my little one to wake up from her nap so that we could take these babies for a test run! :)
As soon as my little one woke up, we got crackin'! The first thing I did was give her a piece of paper and her "old" crayons...
(This is all that is left of the pack of crayons my toddler received for Christmas.
There are only 2 that aren't broken in half.)
I let my my little one do a little bit of coloring with her old crayons, so that I could see the difference...
(She had such a hard time grasping the crayons and making them work.)
(These crayons are bigger around, so they are easier to grasp and they don't break!)
Now, my little one is not yet 2 years old, so she still had a bit of trouble coloring - partly because she was having a "toddler moment" and didn't want me to show her how to hold them - so I helped her a bit by holding her hand and scribbling...
(Can you see the difference? The brown and orange at the bottom were from regular crayons
and the green and blue at the top were Crayon Rocks.
The Crayon Rocks made MUCH more color and MUCH thicker strokes!)
Here's an example of the difference between regular crayons and Crayon Rocks -
The left is a regular crayon, the right is a Crayon Rock.
See how much richer and thicker the strokes are from the Crayon Rocks!
Crayon Rocks are designed to help your child learn to use a correct tripod grip, so the crayons are flat on the bottom. (This is where your pointer finger goes.)
1.) They are made of soy wax, which means they are non-toxic!
2.) Their shape encourages use of the tripod grip - which children need to learn for handwriting.
3.) They are shorter and thicker, so they don't break in little toddler hands!
4.) They are rich and creamy - which means they leave a smooth, thick, beautiful line on the paper.
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Disclosure - Per FTC Regulations, I am disclosing that I received products from the company mentioned above, free of charge, for review. I was in no other way compensated for my review. The views expressed above are my own, honest opinions and any claims should be verified on the sponsor's site.
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