My First

It feels really good to be sitting in front of my computer and writing my first blog post after a couple of months being completely consumed by the new TransformEd Creative Studio and Learning Centre!  

If you have been following along my journey in Kindergarten or with my own children, you have probably noticed my love of colour is pretty evident!  Naturally, when a company like Crayola approached me to partner with them I couldn't help but do a little happy dance about our collaboration!

Within this blog post I am sharing my personal opinion on a few of their "My First" products.  Crayola generously sent the samples that you see in the photographs to Sebastian and Lilianna last month and we really enjoyed exploring them together!  They have also included a special prize pack giveaway (see details below to enter and win!) for your classroom or home.

To make this experience more authentic for my children, I placed all of the products for them to discover in our studio.  One by one they would grab for them, open them, and eventually use what interested them most!

My son loved the Paw Patrol book with the shape stampers (tripod grip stampers) and both of my kids enjoyed the new brush set (jumbo paintbrushes) and blue light up drawing board (mess-free touch-lights).

I personally liked the new triangular shaped markers (tripod grip markers) that have a flat marker surface, so that children could freely make their first creations without ruining the tip.  It encourages line making and even stamping!

Another couple products that I will be taking with me to restaurants or longer car rides is the double doodle board and reusable activity set.  I loved to colour as a child, and the activity set has colouring pages within a flat case that slide under a clear sleeve which can be reused over and over again.  Instead of colouring on the paper, the child colours on the clear sleeve and changes the colouring page underneath.  And then of course for those instances where you would rather create your own marks, doodles, or drawings, simply insert a blank white piece of paper!  Both of these come with washable tripod grip crayons.

So incase you were wondering how this all came about... Crayola Canada recently redesigned and relaunched their "My First" product line of creative art tools for infants and toddlers.  This partnership that we were able to form, couldn't have come at a better time in my life having both an infant and toddler of my own and a brand new studio to be creative within!

When Sebby was little we bought as many of the original "My First" products, as we could get our hands on!  The egg shaped crayons (washable palm grasp crayons), safety scissors, finger paints and art smock were some of our personal favourites!

What I didn't know about these products, was that they have been designed to meet the early stages of a child's artistic development.

For instance,

Stage 1 - Scribble: Making first marks

Stage 2 - Doodle: Repeating patterns like swirls or lines

Stage 3 - Draw: Composing basic pictures

I want to thank Crayola for reaching out to me to raise awareness for their "My First" line.  Parents/Educators -- creative materials really do exist for children as young as infants or toddlers!

And the best part about them, after of course fostering your child's/students' creative development from an early age, is that they are non-toxic and safe!

Giveaway details:

Win your own art smock, jumbo paintbrushes, palm-grasp crayons, tripod grip markers, tripod grip stampers, and mess-free touch-lights.

To enter, please email me (joannemariebabalis@gmail.com) and answer the following questions -

• What is your name?
• If you use instagram what is your account?
• Are you an educator or parent?
• Where are you from?
• How old are your children or the students that you work with?
• How will you use this prize pack if you win?

The winner will be announced Sunday, June 10th on my Instagram stories and will be mailed directly from Crayola Canada headquarters.  I will also send a follow-up email, incase you miss the announcement! 

Thank you to Crayola and Laura Clarke our photographer for inspiring me to get back into my blogging!!!

I continue to be a huge fan of you both!

Thank you also to all of you for reading this blog post and understanding that I only support brands that I believe can make a difference in our work or daily life with children.  My hope is that by seeing these images and possibilities, perhaps more children will have the opportunity to be creative at an earlier stage!

Art

turns on the resources

you will tap into

for everything you are creating in your life!

-Wendy G. Young