Silly question- when do kids use crayons?

smilee

After spending so many years teaching "big" kids, sometimes I feel a little ill-equipped at teaching little ones...

So, when do I give D crayons, finger paints, and all that jazz?

 

emmyloustu

We started randomly trying crayons at restaurants pretty early on around a yr maybe?!), but she is just starting to catch on now and it really only holds her interest for a few minutes. We did finger painting a few times starting around 15m, again, it only holds her attention for a few, so it can feel like a lot of work and clean up for very little play.

fallbride110406

It was listed on our little "what does 15 months look like?" sheet we got at their checkup.  I gave them some of the fatter crayons and held paper for them and Jonah got it right away, scribbling all over the paper and laughing.  Tempe will make dots but doesn't scribble.  

They both will try to eat them too, so I'm constantly telling them "we don't eat crayons" while they play with them.  I've already had technicolor poop twice because I wasn't fast enough. lol

cjsbdl

emmyloustu:

We started randomly trying crayons at restaurants pretty early on around a yr maybe?!), but she is just starting to catch on now and it really only holds her interest for a few minutes. We did finger painting a few times starting around 15m, again, it only holds her attention for a few, so it can feel like a lot of work and clean up for very little play.

Exactly the same experience for us. Henry still doesn't really care anything about them.

RoxBride

DD started on crayons, finger paints, regular paints and all that jazz on her first birthday, especially since she received a lot of that stuff as gifts.

Ironically, she did much better with regular crayons instead of the toddler ones.

She just figured out scissors.

MrsRyan61804

Jack got these for his birthday and he is starting to get the hang of them. They are easy for him to hold. He also finger paints at school, just be ready for a mess

JessandJeremy

Now is a great age for D to try them. The practice is great for fine motor development. Be prepared though....a lot of boys don't care for the scribbling, painting, and other art projects.

naflmj

G started using them around a year because he got some for his birthday but he liked eating them...now he colors for about 15min and will ask to do so. We painted for the first time the other day (he has done it at daycare for months) and he loved it.

sasa625

DD just started enjoying art of any kind, including coloring. We gave her crayons around a year at restaurants and such, and then at home around 14-15 months, but she preferred to put the crayons in/out of the box vs. actually coloring with them.

I would go ahead and try some art projects with him now... I had fun doing projects with DD even if she wasn't that interested

Dr.Loretta

15-18 months

sourpop

we started at 14.5 months and the girls lasted about 4 mins. We tried it again today actually and they lasted about 30 secs, lol. But, we dont have a good spot in our house for them to color (we are buying a little table and chairs for them), so I had them color outside and they were distracted with other things. I am nervous to try it indoors as I don't want crayon marks all over my house. :-)

dundasgirl

sourpop:

we started at 14.5 months and the girls lasted about 4 mins. We tried it again today actually and they lasted about 30 secs, lol. But, we dont have a good spot in our house for them to color (we are buying a little table and chairs for them), so I had them color outside and they were distracted with other things. I am nervous to try it indoors as I don't want crayon marks all over my house. :-)

Crayola washable markers wash off really well.  We got the plastic green round table from IKEA and that is the art table.

Reed and Penny were both using crayons around age 1.  Sometimes they love it, other times, it's really fun to dump out the crayons onto the floor:(  Finger painting is really fun, just get him into his diaper...You can add some food colouring to baby cereal and let him paint with that....then if he eats it, no big deal.  Just don't make the colours too saturated or it will stain him!!

RoxBride

Oh, and another thought, even if LO isn't into them now, while school supplies are on sale stock up like crazy on the little trays of water colors. Wal Mart had them for 50 cents a piece. Once school supply time is over they go way up in price, and we go through them like crazy. She can go through on in a day and a half, easy.

Mouseygail

RoxBride:

Oh, and another thought, even if LO isn't into them now, while school supplies are on sale stock up like crazy on the little trays of water colors. Wal Mart had them for 50 cents a piece. Once school supply time is over they go way up in price, and we go through them like crazy. She can go through on in a day and a half, easy.

  ooh!  GREAT idea!  thanks!

Funny, I was just talking to KME about this yesterday, wondering if they were coloring in her house...I had never thought to try it until I read MrsRyan's post...I think Jones and I will play with some sidewalk chalk eggs this weekend

krissyh21

I gave him them starting at 1 year (mostly at restaurants). Now at almost 21 months he likes coloring on walls more then paper =/

akatrilady2

It's not silly at all

I have found that it depends on the child. With my son, a first born who really doesn't like to color much (never did) we offered them around 18 months or so but he was only moderately interested, ever.

With my daughter, she loves to color and paint for that matter. She got crayons early because she did what brother did, so around 10 months or so and she loved them. She got water colors for the first time around 15 months but I know she would have liked them sooner. Water colors are great because they are easy to clean up. Haven't broken out the finger paints yet because they are such a mess. However, crayola sells sidewalk paint and that's a BIG hit with both DD and DS. It's nice because they do it outside and then we just hose off