Product Review: TaDoodles Crayons for Toddlers

Before Gracie was ever born, I saw these neat TaDoodles Crayons for Toddlers, and knew I would want to get them for her as soon as she reached the right age.

I like the idea of celebrating "half-birthdays" since I always became very excited when I turned another half-year older when I was a child.  This milestone was doubly exciting because it also meant that Christmas was right around the corner!

Gracie turned 18 months old on July 27th, and I bought her these fun crayons and markers.  (I also wanted to buy something school-related since all the Back to School stuff was out.  Last year I bought her a cute little Hello Kitty lunchbox to use for her bottles and snacks.)

I didn't get to give her her new crayons and markers until a week after she turned 18 months because things were kinda hectic around here.  The day I introduced them to her, I had hoped it would entertain her enough so that I could get some work done in my office.  That was wishful thinking!

Gracie enjoyed coloring (scribbling) some.  The round holder made it easy for her to grab onto and move around.

However, within a couple of minutes, to my great disappointment (but not too great of a surprise), she was able to pull the crayon out of the holder!

"Mama, fix it!"

And, so, with some jiggling, I fixed it, along with the red one, and the yellow one.  And in so doing, I got crayon marks on my hands.  I'm not sure if this is a particular trait of washable crayons, but I've never had crayons smear so easily on my hands like that.  And of course, they were on Gracie's hands as well.  They did wash off pretty well.

Gracie actually had more fun manipulating the crayons and markers, putting them in a row.....













...and then putting them in a little basket.

I tried out the marker to see how it would do, and it marked quite a bit on the paper.  It did not bleed through the paper, but with a toddler at the wheel, it probably would.

"Uh-oh, it came out.  I will fix it."

"I like carrying them around."





















Overall, I was disappointed in the product.  I didn't like how easily the crayons came out of the holders.  I didn't like how easily the crayon smeared on our hands.  The markers did the same thing, but that's to be expected.  It's a cute product, but I wouldn't recommend it.  I will probably take the crayons out of the holders and just let her play with those.  Balls are one of her favorite things, after all.  As for the markers, until that ink dries up, I can't even re-purpose those.

Disclaimer:  I was in no way compensated for this review.  I bought the products myself.  All opinions are my own.