A friend recently made a comment that I should write a review about the different types of paints that we own and use (yes I do love my art supplies). While I was thinking about her suggestion, my son came to me, gave me a hug and said “mummy I love these new pens they make writing much better” (his exact words). So instead of writing a review about the different types of paints I thought I would write one about the pens, pencils, felt tip pens that we own and let you know which ones we LOVE, like and which ones we do not actually like. This is just my personal opinion, based on using different products at home with my two little rascals.
My son was recently given some STABILO Trio Scribbi pens to test out. He loves them (these are the pens that he was using when he made the comment above). They are a lovely size for his little hands and have a good triangle shape which he finds very comfortable to hold. He is still getting his pencil grip correct but he has said that with these pens he finds them “easy to hold”.
The colours are bright and I have to admit I have tried them and I also love them. We were given a small set of colours and my son has already asked for more colours as he prefers these to all the other felt tip pens that we have (and we have lots in our house). I am definitely going to be adding the set of 12 STABILO Trio Scribblers to our shopping cart this month.
This is a Twinkl picture that the kids and I did together using the STABILO Trio scribblers and the STABILO Trio pencils.
The other felt tip pens that we have are the Galt, Tesco go Create, Crayola Washable pens, Carioca Jumbo and IKEA’s Malia. My daughter likes using the IKEA Malia pens and we have found that the Carioca Jumbo felt tip pens are great for when we want to add water and get the colours to run (have a look here we love doing this). The Crayola washable felt tip pens are okay but a bit on the thin side for little hands and for some reason neither of my kids are fans of the Galt felt tip pens.
The Bic turn and colour pencils. I am not a fan. I know lots of parents like these but for my kids, who have battled with pencil grip and pencil pressure they are not good. I find that my daughter tends to colour in smaller sections when she uses these and then complains that her hands get tired. I have actually recently decided to give ours away as I am just not happy with them.
For crafts my daughter likes using her sharpies and both kids like the Staedtler Lumocolor permanent pens
School pencils (what my daughter calls these). We have two types that we like. The STABILO Easy graph right-handed pencil – this is what my daughter used for the whole of last year and while she was using these her handwriting really did improve. She likes the fact that she is there are groves where her fingers go and finds them very comfortable. Recently we bought the faber-castel jumbo grip pencils (we bought ours from WH Smith in the UK). Both my son and my daughter enjoy using them. My son manages to grip the pencil nicely, it is the right size for his hands and my daughter has commented that she likes the pressure of the grips on her fingers. They do also have a colouring pencil range with these jumbo grips on and I have heard that they are lovely but we have not tried them.
When I bought the kids the Faber-castel pencils we got some in a set with the eraser. This is the best eraser ever (my daughters words). She hated using erasers until we found this one (not 100% sure why she hated all the other erasers so much, think it was linked to having to rub the erasers so hard on the paper and with her SPD she really battles with pressure).
My daughter’s favourite colouring pencils are her STABILO EASYcolours Ergonomic Colouring Pencil for Right Handed – Assorted Colours, Wallet of 12
I can not write a post about pens and pencils without mentioning our favourite the STABILO woody pencils.
I first bought these 3 years ago, they where an instant hit with both my kids and they are still a big hit in our house. They are easy for little hands to hold, they write and colour very nicely and the fact that you can dip them in water and they become watercolour pencils – well that is just a great added bonus. For my daughter who really struggled with pencil pressure these where the answer for her.
This is a recent activity village colouring page that my daughter did – by dipping her STABILO woody pencils in the water she got this stunning effect.
Tip – if you do purchase these make sure you get a sharpener that works as the pencils are too thick for a normal sharpener. We like the sharpener that comes with the 18 pack pencil set.
I have included affiliate links in this post. If you follow an affiliate link and go on to purchase that product, I will be paid a small commission, however your cost will be the same.
. We bought a set and I am so glad that we did. They have been used and used and are now being used a lot by my youngest. They are not cheap pencils but with both of my kids they have been the pencils that have been used the most (for a long time my daughter would only use these pencils to do her writing).
. These have been our favourite Maths manipulative. My son is now using them and loves them. My daughter has moved on to using her 
but she does still sometimes fetch these to help her solve a maths sum. She used her snap cubes for counting, working out which numbers are greater or less than, addition, subtraction, place value and multiplication. By far one of the most used homeschooling resources that we have in our house.
. This is a brilliant problem solving game for kids. The game comes with a booklet which sets out a number of challenges for the kids to complete. Once the kids have had a try they can turn over the page and see what the solution is. As the kids progress with the challenges so they get progressively harder.
. I love these. I am finding them so useful. We have used them for tracing pages for my youngest, maths for oldest and even playdough. I honestly love these !!!! They are saving me time and money (the cost of buying laminating sleeves).
ofamily learning together 