Crayons, markers or colored pencils: what to give a toddler

Thick crayons first, for at least the first year of drawing. They need no grip strength, they will not tear the page, they do not bleed through, and they leave a wide mark a child can actually see. Markers come later, colored pencils later still, and both for specific reasons rather than as an upgrade.

The choice matters more than it looks, because at this age the tool decides whether the child sees a result. A child who presses hard and gets a faint line concludes that nothing is happening and stops. Everything below follows from that one fact.

Thick crayons are the right first tool for four separate reasons. They mark with almost no pressure, so a hand that has no strength yet still produces a strong line. They are wide enough to be held in a fist, which is how a child holds things before the fingers take over. They cannot tear paper, which a sharp pencil in a heavy fist easily can. And they do not go through the page, so a marked sheet stays a marked sheet.

Markers give the brightest result and children love them for exactly that reason. The cost is that they go straight through ordinary paper, so a double sided page loses the drawing on the back, and they mark the table, clothes and skin far more readily than crayons. Washable markers solve most of that. A spare sheet under the page solves the rest.

Colored pencils need a finger grip and steady pressure, both of which most children do not have before about three. Given earlier, the pencil either leaves nothing visible or snaps. They come into their own once a child stays inside the line and wants finer control, which is a real want and not one to rush.

Two smaller things are worth knowing. Chunky triangular or egg-shaped crayons encourage the fingers to sit where they will eventually need to sit, which is a gentle nudge rather than a training device. And a child who is left handed needs nothing different in the way of tools, but does benefit from a drawing placed in the middle of the page rather than off to one side, where a left hand covers it while working.