Crayons aren't just utensils for creating fridge-worthy drawings — the long-time favorite kids' art tool introduces toddlers to holding a pencil, building skills essential for school. Of course, crayons have no upper age limit and can spark creativity from toddler through adulthood for just a few bucks.
"Drawing and scribbling is the first chance young kids and toddlers (even as early as 12-15 months, sometimes younger) get to explore how it feels to hold a writing utensil," Claire Heffron, an occupational therapist and blogger at The Inspired Treehouse, told Insider. "This is a huge deal because exposure and exploration allow kids to move through the developmental progression of pencil grasp. This way, by the time they're ready to start experimenting with prewriting and early writing skills — they are solidly working their way toward an efficient pencil grasp."
Heffron suggests using triangular-shaped or shorter crayons to encourage proper grasp. As young artists grow more efficient with their grasp, crayons start to resemble the size and shape of a pencil.
Although the way a crayon looks and feels may be subjective, durability and washability are not. As a mom of three who enjoys crafting and DIY, I put nine of the top-ranked crayons to the test. Besides handing the sets over to a 7-year-old, 5-year-old, and 1-year-old, I also put crayons through drop tests and then intentionally scribbled on the walls.
The Crayola Ultra-Washable stood out for its easy clean-up, durability, feel, and price, but I also found favorites for toddlers, rubbings, and even coloring windows.
Here are the best crayons: