MetaChat - Parents - how old was your kid when you first gave them crayons?

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11 December 2009

Parents - how old was your kid when you first gave them crayons? →[More:]In the past few days, the kid (15mo) has just started REALLY wanting to use my pen when I'm writing stuff. Not really keen on that, but she has stopped putting stuff in her mouth for the most part and we were considering crayons. I have it in my head that most people wait until the kids are about two or so though. You?

post by: gaspode at: 12:20 | 21 comments

I'm am not a parent, but my sister-in-law buys chunky bees wax vegetable dye crayons for her small kids, so an occasional nibble isn't toxic.

posted by Specklet 11 December | 12:24

Yeah, you can buy non-toxic crayons. Perhaps you have a budding artist!

posted by amro 11 December | 12:54

my kid is 21 months, and he's been using crayons for quite some time. at preschool, they have these nice big tubular crayons that everyone seems to love. I've also seen Melissa and Doug triangle-shaped crayons that are good for little hands. We just give our little guy crayolas and he very happily snaps them in two.

posted by pinky.p 11 December | 12:55

My nephew has been using crayons (with supervision) for over a year and he's just two at the end of the month. He uses both the big chunky ones and the regular-sized ones.

posted by crush-onastick 11 December | 12:57

My son was using crayons at that age, and they are non-toxic (I took the paper off), so if he happened to nibble, it was no big deal, but he was never one much to put things in his mouth. He had to be supervised, though, because if allowed, he would have made our whole freaking house his canvas. I say go for it, color with her, it's so much fun!

posted by msali 11 December | 13:10

non-toxic (I took the paper off)

Just want to point out that I used to eat paper all the time when I was a kid, don't ask me why. Not that it's good to eat, but it never hurt me.

posted by amro 11 December | 13:12

And no, I didn't have pica, I was just weird.

posted by amro 11 December | 13:13

Trying to remember, but I think it was somewhere around the 16 - 18 month range. Get the big chunky crayons and giant paper. When my daughter was a toddler I stapled up a whole roll of white paper all around the kitchen so she could draw to her hearts' content. Probably a bad idea - writing on walls should never be OK, etc - but she never went on into the dining room and meanwhile it was great.

posted by mygothlaundry 11 December | 13:20

Go for it! I teach kids with severe disabilities who have developmental levels around 12-24 months (although they are chronologically older), and we use crayons all the time. Crayola crayons are non-toxic, so if she does happen to take a little nibble, no biggie.

mygothlanudry:
When my daughter was a toddler I stapled up a whole roll of white paper all around the kitchen so she could draw to her hearts' content. Probably a bad idea - writing on walls should never be OK, etc - but she never went on into the dining room and meanwhile it was great.

Actually, writing on vertical surfaces is great for promoting a correct pencil/crayon grip. The fact that you have to bend your wrist back forces the muscles in the hands and fingers to get more of a work-out. So you were just following good education practices!

posted by charleena 11 December | 13:35

(oh yeah, I know you can buy non-toxic crayons, I think I have not seen NON-non toxic crayons for years. That said, they eat enough of them, they'll still get a belly ache)

/former poison-control officer

posted by gaspode 11 December | 13:39

Have you tried the Tadoodles from Crayola? They're big, chunky, washable markers made especially for babies. The boy loves them. Crayons, he eats-and I've kind of given up on stopping him.

posted by jrossi4r 11 December | 13:41

I'm still waiting for mine. Any day now...

posted by special-k 11 December | 13:49

They look cool, jrossi! I'm gonna goferrit.

*lays in extra cleaning supplies for walls, face.*

posted by gaspode 11 December | 13:57

I'm still waiting. I promise I won't eat them.

posted by mullacc 11 December | 14:01

I don't remember how old my girls were, but I think you're good to go on that front. I am only here to suggest that it's SUPER SUPER cool to buy a big roll of paper, and cover your coffee table with it.

I used to sit for ages with Sophie and doodle with her. Evelyn too. In fact, while moving some of my stuff out recently...I came across a couple of these pieces that I'd rolled up and saved. It was kinda cool.

It was great, like MGL's suggestion but on a slightly smaller scale, because, yeah, no danger of them drawing on the table, cos the WHOLE TABLE IS FOR DRAWING!

posted by richat 11 December | 14:30

Oh, yes, seconding the big roll. I got about 10 rolls on sale a few years back, and we've only used up half. They were great temporary tablecloths too when they were in the "I wanna do it!" stage.

I think Older Boy was around 15 months or so when we got them. He mostly tore the paper off them. Then around 2 or so he saw their utility.

posted by lysdexic 11 December | 17:33

Thanks jrossi4r! EM is a chewer so I was holding off on crayons. I will keep an eye out for these though.

posted by gomichild 11 December | 18:56

Don't worry too much about the nibbling. As long as you're getting a normal, name-brand crayon, they're harmless. Kids are going to eat all sorts of weird things (playdoh, glue, dog food, boogers, etc. -- you name it, most kids will have tried it at some point).

My kids used crayons and markers and paints from very early ages, with supervision of course, and yeah sometimes they nibbled at them (my son licked all of his paints once to see if the various colors tasted different -- he had a multi-colored mouth for several days even after repeating baths lol), but they suffered no ill effects.

So go for it, and let your little one unleash her creativity! :)

posted by amyms 12 December | 13:48

I think my kids were around two.

MGL, I love that you stapled paper to the walls.

posted by LoriFLA 12 December | 16:06

I don't remember exactly when, but my kids had all kinds of drawing stuff very early (I'm thinking pretty much once they could sit in a high-chair). I wanted to make sure they had to tools to be creative as soon as the capacity/desire struck. Did the same with books - they have always had books around them that are way above their level and they always took advantage of the opportunity to challenge themselves. Now the three younger kids read several years above their peers and they get great comments from teachers about the quality of drawings etc in projects.

Get the big chunky ones (less chance of choking on them) and let her go for it, I say.

posted by dg 12 December | 16:38

I couldn't find the crayola ones - they aren't part of the range crayola sells in Japan.

I did find some other ones here which stack and are hard - not very chewable and so far not broken with the repeated throwings and droppings.

Also stacking crayons = fun!

[For reference: Toys r us Japan]

posted by gomichild 13 December | 03:03

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