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Crayola Metallic Markers
by Wee_Jackie_163
My nephew is three years old and is fond of exploring his artistic side, helped with the use of stickers, glitter and coloured pens/pencils. As this interest of his develops, I have purchased a whole host of artistic 'tools' to assist in this sort of playtime, with many items being purchased at Christmas time last year. One of the ... items that I purchased at that time was from the well-known "Crayola" brand, namely the pack of "Metallic Markers." I paid around £3 for the pack of markers in December last year from Amazon (www.amazon.co.uk), but this original pack had suffered a few casualties by way of a couple of the pens losing their lids and drying out. Therefore, when I recently noticed the same pack of pens available for a reduced price of £1.75 in a local branch of Sainsbury's recently, I snapped up the pens as a replacement for the originals.
As @ the time of writing (May 2013), the pack of Crayola Metallic Markers can be purchased from www.amazon.co.uk for the cost of £3.80, with free delivery.
The pens are housed in a thin cardboard box that is oblong in shape and has the usual Crayola branding in bright colours of yellow and green. Inside the outer box lies a black 'tray' that is made of thin plastic, and each pen has its own 'slot' in this tray which allows for easy storage. My young nephew is able to remove and replace the pens by himself easily, and we find that the pack's design is very suitable, allowing each pen to be 'housed' neatly within.
There are five Metallic Markers contained in the box; silver, gold, blue, green and purple. Each pen is quite thick, allowing for an easy grip, making them ideal for youngsters' small hands. The pens are not suitable for youngsters under the age of 3, which is presumably down to the lids presenting a possible choking hazard.
The pens are self-coloured, which allows them to be rather more 'child-friendly' than other felt tip pens that are in my nephews collection that all look alike, save for a small 'band' of colour at the end. My nephew gets impatient at times when selecting such pens, finding it tiresome to inspect the end of each pen before making his selection. The Crayola Metallic Markers, in comparison, are easily selected thanks to the bold colours of plastic used to correspond perfectly with the pens' respective ink colours.
Removing the lids from the end of the pen is easy for my nephew to undertake by himself, and doing so reveals the pen's nib, of course. This is a sort of triangular shape and it has a 'chunky' look to it, which I find makes colouring in very easy for my nephew to do. Where other felt tip pens with a thinner nib will require more effort - and time! - to colour in larger areas, these are 'filled' more easily and quickly with the use of a thicker-nibbed pen, such as the Metallic Markers. Ideal then, for an impatient youngster who has little time to spend on such matters, it would seem! After use, the lids are replaced easily on the end of the pen, although I did note that my nephew was waiting for a loud, audible 'click' as the lid was pressed securely in place. This is something he has been taught to look out for at nursery, as it prevents the pens from drying out, of course. There is really only a sort of dull, quieter clicking noise present as the lids are secured, although we can still hear it..... just.
As with any craft-like activities that are undertaken with a young companion, there is always a bit of mess present during our playtime. In the case of the Metallic Markers, this usually presents itself by way of a variety of colourful ink marks all over my nephews fingers and hands. I have found that these come off very easily with soap and hot water, and there is no need to scrub the skin to remove all traces. Similarly, my nephew managed to get an ink mark on the leather fabric of a footstool he was using to lean on, and I was able to remove this small mark with the use of a couple of baby wipes. Based on our experiences in this regard, I do think these particular Markers are quite suitable for use by youngsters, finding that any mess is easily cleaned up in a jiffy.
In terms of the pens' performance, I do find that the colours included in the pack are quite bright, with my favourite shades being the green and the purple. I find that the gold colour included in the pack is rather dull, which is a shame, as the end result resembles what is better described as being brown rather than gold. There seems to be very little in the way of metallic 'sheen' from this colour too, with this effect being slightly more noticeable in some of the brighter colours, particularly the blue and the purple. Even so, I will admit to finding the 'metallic' element of these Markers to be slightly disappointing, as I was expecting them to provide something of a more shiny effect than they actually do. I can't say that the ink produced at the end result is particularly eye-catching either, although I can't say that my nephew has any grumbles where these pens are concerned. He loves them, and will often produce them during our craft times together, with him even refusing to put them in his large plastic 'barrel' where the rest of his colouring pens and pencils are stored. When I asked him why he does this, he said they were his 'special' pens. I can only assume then, that these pens offer something rather impressive to my nephew that others in his collection don't.
As my nephew has a newer set of these pens, together with half of an older set, I was curious to see how the older set fared in terms of their ink. Out of the remaining three pens in the original set, only one is dried out to the point of being nearly useless. The other two are still performing well enough to be used up. As these pens are used so often, and have been for the past five months or so, I feel that they have performed rather well in terms of quality. I do therefore feel that they offer value for money, particularly if purchased for around the £3 mark or less.
In summary, I do recommend the pack of Crayola Metallic Markers, particularly as they are something of a favourite in my nephew's vast collection. I find they are convenient to use and handle by youngsters and adults alike, and will happily purchase a new pack for my nephew when his current set need replacing.
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