Crayons Galore!

[Abigail]

So, I made a stop at the store one more time to see what was left for school supplies. I've already bought a few boxes of crayons at a quarter each and then a few packs of markers and colored pencils. I want to stock up on crayons because those will be used the most and I would rather buy markers next year when I have my daycare up and running and know the ages. .

So, do you prefer LARGE crayons (16 packs) or JUMBO crayons (8 packs)? They're the same price and I have one of each, but want to stock up. They're normally $3.99/box, but now they're only $2.00

I also bought one box of Triangular crayons (16 pack)....should I buy more?

Thanks, I'll be going back to the store tomorrow morning to get whatever selection they have remaining! Yay!

[DCMomOf3]

I like the standard or large. I've never tried the triangular ones. I love school specials, things are so much more affordable in the fall!

[Abigail]

School special's are great, but now they're even greater on clearance! ha ha.

Kmart raised their school supply prices back up to normal...why would I pay $1.19 for a standard pack of crayon's when everywhere else still has tons at a quarter?! Seriously, .

I also found dry-erase crayons for a white board. Those are for me! I'm just not sure whether to stock up on large or jumbo crayons....they're really different in size. Our current daycare only uses standard, but I want to offer larger crayons for the 2 year olds. The triangular is really cute though and also for 24+ months.

[SilverSabre25]

I like the Large ones (the ones in the 16 pack) because there are more colors, and so when I'm coloring with them there's more variety for *me*!

[TGT09]

I quickly realized that the large ones weren't wanted by the toddlers. I stopped buying them. Now, large pencils I need some more of those.

[ninosqueridos]

I used to have a community box of crayons and markers for all of the kids.......and b/c some kids would leave markers caps off and break crayons (yes, the big ones), I decided I would keep the community box for under 2s, and the 2+ kids have just been introduced to their very own, indvidual box with a set of markers (8) and crayons (big ones). They have only had them this week, and they are already taking better care of their stuff......if a marker gets dried out or crayon broken (on purpose), they will not be replaced. And there is no more fighting over crayon and marker colors.

So now that I rambled on, to answer your question, I prefer the BIG crayons. If they could break those, I'm sure they'd do a number on the little ones. They actually prefer markers anyway.

WTG on finding great deals!! WalMart sells out as quickly as they get stuff in so I wasn't able to get the quarter deals. They do carry the markers for $2 so that's when I bought a set for each dck.

[Abigail]

I used to have a community box of crayons and markers for all of the kids.......and b/c some kids would leave markers caps off and break crayons (yes, the big ones), I decided I would keep the community box for under 2s, and the 2+ kids have just been introduced to their very own, indvidual box with a set of markers (8) and crayons (big ones). They have only had them this week, and they are already taking better care of their stuff......if a marker gets dried out or crayon broken (on purpose), they will not be replaced. And there is no more fighting over crayon and marker colors.

So now that I rambled on, to answer your question, I prefer the BIG crayons. If they could break those, I'm sure they'd do a number on the little ones. They actually prefer markers anyway.

WTG on finding great deals!! WalMart sells out as quickly as they get stuff in so I wasn't able to get the quarter deals. They do carry the markers for $2 so that's when I bought a set for each dck.

What kind of markers do you get? I gave in and went back to Target tonight. Good thing I did because they only had 4 boxes of the triangular crayons left (I bought 3) and then they had a ton of JUMBO crayons so I bought 3 of those also but will hang onto my receipt incase they go 75% off then I'll return and buy a bunch more! I realized that the LARGE crayons really were not much larger than the standard 24 packs of crayons so I went with buying the JUMBO as you can't even find those ones some places. Yes, they're only 8 packs, but some kids can't handle too many options and I can use regular crayons when I color to have options! LOL

Let me know of any other school supplies I should stock up on now that won't dry out if they don't get used until next summer. I want to only enroll up to age 6 when they start school and currently don't have children of my own, so I have to start fresh on everything. Any ideas helps! I'm looking for boxes to give each child for their own art supplies too, not sure which ones to buy though either.

[SilverSabre25]

Let me know of any other school supplies I should stock up on now that won't dry out if they don't get used until next summer. I want to only enroll up to age 6 when they start school and currently don't have children of my own, so I have to start fresh on everything. Any ideas helps! I'm looking for boxes to give each child for their own art supplies too, not sure which ones to buy though either.

Spiral bound notebooks--each of my bigger kids has one right now as a "journal" (that's what I call it in my head anyway) and it keeps the papers all together. When it's full, I'll send it home. Plus, it let's them color on as many sheets of paper as they want and I don't feel like it's that wasteful--the notebooks are like, 15 cents at Target!

[Abigail]

Spiral bound notebooks--each of my bigger kids has one right now as a "journal" (that's what I call it in my head anyway) and it keeps the papers all together. When it's full, I'll send it home. Plus, it let's them color on as many sheets of paper as they want and I don't feel like it's that wasteful--the notebooks are like, 15 cents at Target!

Do you write the child's name on the cover? Yeah, they have a ton of college ruled ones, but all the wide ruled ones are sold out. This is definitely a cost-effective means of paper. I picked up 10 folders, 2 of each color, but they all have PRONGS and I hate prongs! I'm not going to spend the money on designed folders because I'm thinking I'll use these folders to give each potential client all the papers in during an interview to keep it organized and neat. Maybe I need more than 10?

[Abigail]

Rose Art VS. Crayola

Here is a picture from Target today. The Crayola Jumbo crayons are pretty much double the size! LOL, I should have pulled up the crayola to the end of the shelf peg before taking the picture, obviously they sell more. ha ha.

[caitlin]

Stay far away from Rose Art products. I know Crayola costs a bit more but you really get what you pay for there.

I like Jumbo crayons for kids under 2ish. The jumbo crayons don't break, plus you have only the basic colors so when you say, "Try using the blue crayon for the water" the child doesn't have robin's egg blue, sky blue, blue, and 50 other different blues to choose from. Keep It Simple.

[sahm2three]

Keep your broken crayons! The kids and I made our own crayons the other day and what fun! I used mini muffin tins and each child chose 10 pieces of crayon and and put in their spot and I baked them at 250 degrees for about 8 minutes and then later we colored with them. The kids were thrilled!

[caitlin]

As for supplies:
Scissors
crayons
markers
paints (finger, acrylic, watercolors)
glitter (if you are adventorous!)
glue (sticks and liquid, liquid glue is great for making modge podge too)
pencils
folders
notebooks
rulers
binders (usually on sale as well, and I know I use them for all sorts of things like filing, daily sheets, record keeping etc)
dry erase markers

I keep a set of things for the kid's use and a set of things for myself.

[Abigail]

I stocked up on the Jumbo Crayola crayons and the Triangular Crayola Crayons. I returned my random Cra-Z-Art brand to Wal-Mart today; glad to be organized!

I sure wish they would make a yellow colored pencil box! Most of my items for scissors and pencil sharpeners have blue, red, green, and yellow. The dollar pencil storage boxes replace yellow with pink, so much for trying to color-match the group! I'm shocked that all Target's don't price their items the same. We have two in our city and one is clearanced and the other is regular price. I'll be going back to the clearanced store to find some markers and colored pencils to complete my art boxes. I'm only making four and I'm sure I will have 2-3 infants who will not need one.

[SilverSabre25]

Do you write the child's name on the cover? Yeah, they have a ton of college ruled ones, but all the wide ruled ones are sold out. This is definitely a cost-effective means of paper. I picked up 10 folders, 2 of each color, but they all have PRONGS and I hate prongs! I'm not going to spend the money on designed folders because I'm thinking I'll use these folders to give each potential client all the papers in during an interview to keep it organized and neat. Maybe I need more than 10?

Yes, I write the child's name on the inside front cover and each has a different colored front--easier for my 2-3 year olds (my current group) to identify! Eventually we'll probably make pretty individualized covers that I'll glue to the fronts. I buy college ruled because *I* prefer them, and I frequently grab from my stash of notebooks 'cause I use them for lots of things. At this age, they're really just coloring and not writing yet so I don't think it matters.

I'd grab more than ten folders--lots more! They're cheap.