Saturday, July 7, 2012

Back to Preschool Giveaway Blast: Sponsor Spotlight- Crayon Rocks

Tots and Me

Welcome to the start of our Back to Preschool Giveaway Blast. The month of July is going to be filled with reviews of some great products geared toward older toddlers and/or young preschoolers in anticipation of the giveaway which starts on August 1st. 




Now, onto the first review. I discovered these great Crayon Rocks and thought they would be an awesome addition to this event. I was thrilled when they agreed to join in. Crayon Rocks are not your run of the mill crayons that you and your children are used to. Here, check them out:

These unique crayons were created by Barbara Lee, a teacher of children with special needs.  She knows how important it is for children to develop a good tripod grip to ensure handwriting success. The design of the Crayon Rocks are such that a child will naturally hold them in the correct position. She also wanted to make sure the crayons would go on smoothly and easily, allowing a child to effortlessly create a vivid work of art.  

Here are some of the benefits directly from their site:

  • Crayon Rocks are all natural soy wax crayons made from USA grown soybeans and colored with mineral pigments.
  • The colors are vibrant and can be layered to make beautifully textureart work.
  • They were designed to strengthen the tripod grip muscles, preparing fingers and hands for handwriting.
  • The shape allows small fingers to color in large, wide strokes creating pictures rich in color.
  • Used by occupational therapists to develop fine motor skills.

The children were so excited to get to use their new crayons so they could do what they love to do, draw and color.
Here they are showing off the cute little pouches they come in.




Of course, the first thing Hannah did was try to eat one. Granted they are supposed to be for ages 3 and over. I figure a 2 year old is okay with these as long as they are closely supervised. After I told her they were not candy (I think she might have been equating them with the jelly beans daddy buys) she was actually fine with them. 



Tabitha wanted to color a rainbow, which has been a favorite lately.


 So, of course, Amelia wanted to make a rainbow too; however, she made a "backwards" rainbow.  Yes this was done purposefully and it was fun watching them figure out which color comes next if you are going backward.

Yes, they were holding the crayons correctly from the beginning. 
See the tripod grip?


Though I noticed they started holding them differently later on. They realized they didn't have to hold it so they were coloring with the tip. Thanks to the design they are able to use a wider surface to make wider lines of color. 



Hannah hoarded a bit.

The children love these new crayons. 
Tabitha said they are "kinda fun" and she "likes to draw persons, Red Sled with them and drawing books."
Amelia said she likes to "color with different colors."
They both felt they were comfortable to hold. In addition, Tabitha mentioned that she likes them because they "don't break on me."  While Amelia didn't express a preference when I asked if she would rather use Crayon Rocks or normal crayons, Tabitha did say she prefers the Crayon Rocks. 

Personally I think these innovative crayons are great. As Tabitha mentioned, it is impossible to use the "normal" crayons without having them break. We constantly have half crayons hanging around the house. In comparison, the children do not need to be concerned that Crayon Rocks will snap if they are pushed harder. In fact, it is encouraged to press hard. The colors are lovely. The fact that you can use the sides and produce wide swaths of color is wonderful for coloring in pictures. Yet, they still have a smaller end to make thinner lines. 


One concern we did note, is that some of the crayons made streaky lines when they were first used. However, after a few passes on the paper they produced the rich color they are meant to. 

And I am curious as to how long they will last in comparison to the other crayons. I would think, seeing as they are not going to be breaking into tiny pieces we will have them for a decent amount of time. 

As for the goal of strengthening the tripod grip muscles, it seems like this will be the case. I had to ask the children if they felt comfortable holding the Crayon Rocks because I was afraid it might feel uncomfortable as it did for me. The thing is, I don't use the tripod grip, the pen rests on my ring finger when I am writing. 

Now, I just have to mention these little pouches. First of all you can choose muslin cotton or velvet. The larger size comes in Red Velvet or the Muslin and contains 16 crayons.
This is their 16 Rocks in a Bag, Summer Colors. I was able to show the girls that each of the primary colors had a lighter tint.

You can also purchase the smaller bag of  8 crayon rocks in a Blue Velvet bag or muslin cotton bag. You would receive the colors in the top row shown in the above picture. Or you could choose the pastels in a spring green bag. Lastly, you could choose to get just the brights in a red velvet bag. If you would like to have a better grasp of what all these colors entail I would suggest heading over to their website and checking them out.
To me, the bags are great, and a LOT better than the cardboard boxes that regular crayons come in. I foresee these bags lasting a lot longer than the boxes that get ripped so easily. And it is easier for younger children to put things in a bag than trying to get stick crayons to stand up straight while they attempt to fit the remainder of the crayons in. 

All around, a great product. Add in the fact that they are made in America and are non-toxic and you have a winner.

Are you ready for some exciting news? 
They have agreed to supply both a 16 count bag and a 8 count bag of Crayon Rocks for the Back to Preschool Giveaway Blast. The larger bag will be part of the Grand Prize Pack worth approximately $225. And the 8 count bag will be in the Second Place Prize Pack (worth of which is still to be determined). 

How would you like some extra entries into this giveaway before it even starts? 
Head on over to Crayon Rocks website and tell me one of the tips they suggest in using the crayons. Leave the answer here in the comments with your email and when the giveaway is live I will email you the secret code to place in the Rafflecopter for a bonus 10 points. 
Also, if you would like to spread the word about this event and place the button on your blog sidebar I will give you an additional 10 points. 
Either way, don't forget to stop back between August 1st and 18th to enter the giveaway.

Tots and Me

67 comments:

  1. I love those - Such a much more natural look :)

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  2. Those crayon rocks are awesome! My boys would love those :)

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  3. What a great idea and so much easier to hold for little ones.

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  4. my little boy would love those - thanks for sharing! one of the tips I liked : If you don't like what you've done, chances are you can scrape it off or erase it off mrsrachapman(at)gmail(dot)com

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  5. Thank you for sharing this. I never knew about this product until today. I love the idea! Thanks again for sharing your review.

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  6. I would like to try these. I actually just threw away all of my kids crayons because they are all broken and hardly usable! These would be hard to break! Thank you for the idea.

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  7. These are too cool!! One tip that I liked is Outline with a marker or pointy crayon last. This can add definition
    and cover any stray marks you don't like. jessiicali@gmail.com

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  8. Great for toddlers and preschoolers!
    Gladys Parker

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  9. These are great for younger kids. I wish they were around when my newphew was younger. He was rough on crayon, so they would always break.

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  10. These are great. My son would love these!

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  11. My 2 yr old loves colouring with his brothers, but breaks off all the tips of the crayons. So these would bee awesome for him. - feeling SASSy

    http://www.theknitwitbyshair.com/2012/07/sass-july-7-2012.html

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  12. Great giveaway! I'll be away on vacation. Not sure if it's open to Canadians anyways.

    Besos, Sarah
    Zookeeper at Journeys of The Zoo
    journeysofthezoo at hotmail dot com
    www.journeysofthezoo.com

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  13. these look like fun! I will have to check them out! My favorite part- no paper to peel. My kids have this habit of peeling the paper off so I get tiny shreds every where!

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  14. I've always wanted to give these a try! Thanks for posting about this.

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  15. Oops - thanks for participating in SASS!
    http://www.multitestingmommy.com/2012/07/lets-get-sass-y-saturday-stop-share.html

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  16. Crayon Rocks suggests that you not be afraid to layer colors. These are so perfect for small toddler hands!

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  17. What a great concept! And crayons breaking in the hands of little ones is a big problem and these would remedy that. I'm going to share this with my son's school's special needs classes. Great review!

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  18. I love how these are such a simple, yet brilliant concept! Looks like a great product!

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  19. My son would love these. He loves coloring but when the crayons are different he gets so excited.

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  20. here's the tip.
    encourage children to use the
    flat sides of the crayon instead of
    the tip to get broad swaths of
    color on the paper.
    These look awesome.

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  21. That's a great tip they share about buffing it with a tissue or the palm of your hand to give it a wax-like shine! ducksoup @wamego.net

    Thanks for the extra entries!
    Anne

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  22. I hadn't seen these before! Awesome!

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  23. What a fun post thanks so much for sharing.

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  24. encourage children to use the flat side of the crayon, not the tip.

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  25. wow - one tip i learned was that you can wipe a tissue or just your hand over the top of your drawing when you're done and it will shine like it's just been recently waxed!! how neat! and that you can scrape or erase it off if you messed up or didn't like the color and then just color over the top of it! one thing as a mother i am most concerned about (besides the size being small enough to eat/choke on) is are they washable?! :)
    my email is ksebnerfamily@yahoo.com

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  26. I have never heard of them and so I would like to get them for my son as they seem like they would be easy to use and different from the other items we use when we do art projects.

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  27. One of the tips that I liked was this "First, encourage children to use the
    flat sides of the crayon instead of
    the tip to get broad swaths of
    color on the paper." - this would be great especially for my kiddos in my multiple disabilities class, they have trouble w/ regular crayons because they are so small sometimes.

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  28. encourage children to use the
    flat sides of the crayon instead of
    the tip to get broad swaths of
    color on the paper. amy.jessee@gmail.com

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  29. To add definition to page start by drawing a strong design before filling in the colors.

    marysims810@gmail.com

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  30. One of the last suggestions is to outline a drawing with a marker or pointy crayon

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  31. Outline your drawing with a pointy crayon or marker.

    missy.trimble.contests@gmail.com

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  32. First, encourage children to use the
    flat sides of the crayon instead of
    the tip to get broad swaths of
    color on the paper.

    ReplyDelete
  33. Forgot to actually add my email (not sure if you needed in the actual post so here it is):

    escapefor1@msn.com

    Tip:
    First, encourage children to use the
    flat sides of the crayon instead of
    the tip to get broad swaths of
    color on the paper.

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  34. Give your final picture a quick buff with a tissue or your hand for a shiny surface!
    tvpg at aol dot com

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  35. They suggest layoring colors.

    ecarian at yahoo dot com

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  36. The first tip is that the children should use the flat side of the crayon

    My email: orangestar17(at)hotmail(dot)com

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  37. I love that these crayons look cool and color well but also help strengthen little hands

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  38. One tip they offer is to start with a strong drawing before trying to fill in the
    colors.

    chevsop @ gmail.com

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  39. They are suggested to help develop fine motor skills! The colors can be layered.

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  40. This design is so much better than the standard cylinder crayon. Even the jumbo crayons break when used by little hands. It is frustrating for them and for some parents. Some children won't use "broken" crayons and you end up with a box of pieces. This design is so much easier for them to use.

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  41. They recommend to have the children use the flat side of the crayon instead of the tip. It covers better.
    librarypat AT comcast dot net

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  42. I love these because I have accidentally snapped so many of my son's crayons in half with my adult-sized hands...these look way more durable!

    mugsymcg46 at yahoo dot com

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  43. A tip for using the crayon rocks is to encourage children to use the flat sides of the crayon instead of the tip to get broad swaths of
    color on the paper.
    sunshineroselily@yahoo.com

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  44. encourage children to use the
    flat sides of the crayon instead of
    the tip to get broad swaths of
    color on the paper. Chey_wilkerson@live.com

    ReplyDelete
  45. one tip was to really put some muscle behind the crayons and push down hard.

    ty for the extra entries in the awesome giveaway!!

    zucchinisummer at gmail dot com

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  46. First, encourage children to use the
    flat sides of the crayon instead of
    the tip to get broad swaths of
    color on the paper.

    skyoak69@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  47. They encourage children to use the fat, flat side fo the crayon and to color all of the paper.

    shelleygajus (dot) gmail (dot) com

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  48. These would be perfect for my 3 year old who breaks regular crayons

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  49. I love that these crayons are made with all natural ingredients and are the perfect shape and size for little fingers to learn to correctly hold writing instruments.

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  50. Then tell them to cover up ALL the
    white paper. ALL of IT! That's not
    hard with Crayon Rocks.

    skyoak69@gmail.com

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  51. Encourage children to use the falt side of the crayon instead of the tip to get broad swaths of color on the paper .

    myowndesign8@yahoo.com

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  52. " ... start with a strong drawing before trying to fill in the colors."
    These look amazing and I would love for my coloring-addicted kids to try them!
    kaseejohnson@verizon.net

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  53. You a tissue or the palm of your hand to make the picture shine! very cool
    Bilindas@gmail.com

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  54. What perfect crayons - we actually bought the crayon maker for my son so he could melt down all the broken pieces because you are right - normal crayons DO break when small hands color. We'll be giving these a try!

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  55. layer the colors for a textured design.

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    Replies
    1. I would love to give you the secret word for the bonus entries, but you neglected to give me your email address and there is no info in your profile. Please contact me with this info.

      Delete
  56. hmm-if they mess up or u don't care for how it is looking u can scrape it off or erase it --interesting
    I do like the richness of the colors

    Nikki Kratzer
    trolycar@gmail.com

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  57. First, encourage children to use the
    flat sides of the crayon instead of
    the tip to get broad swaths of
    color on the paper.

    dweath401@sbcglobal.net

    ReplyDelete
  58. One tip is that it helps to start with a strong drawing before beginning to color it in.
    janmessali (at) gmail (dot) com
    (different than my Rafflecopter email)

    ReplyDelete
  59. Encourage children to use the flat sides of the crayon instead of the tip to get broad swaths of color on the paper.

    erica.leggiero@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  60. give it a quick buff with a tissue or the palm of your hand. The surface will shine up like it's been
    waxed. I love this tip and have used it myself

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  61. forgot to leave email celestin1@hotmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  62. First, encourage children to use the
    flat sides of the crayon instead of
    the tip to get broad swaths of
    color on the paper.

    angelgurl01291963@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  63. First tip is to encourage children to use the flat sides of the crayon instead of the tip to get broad swaths of color on the paper.

    icefairyisme at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete

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