Cheap Crayola My First Crayola Painting Kit

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I bought this for a friend's 2.5-year-old (who I babysit). He absolutely loves it. The brush is a perfect size and shape for him to hold, and he can dip it into the paints without spilling them. I also like that the brush handle is too thick to fit through the top of the paint bottle, so he can't dip it too far into the paint and end up with paint all over his hands, although this may become a problem as his paints start to run low and the brush can't reach the paint at all. The paint is also very washable, and easy to clean up on skin and hard surfaces, which is very important with a 2-year-old. However, from my perspective, there are a few things that could be better:

First off, I think it should have included three brushes (one for each color) rather than one to keep the colors from being mixed as quickly. It's hard for little ones to clean the brush when switching to a new color, and they tend to want to go back and forth between colors all the time (sometimes after a single brush stroke). I've been reluctant to give him a cup of water to rinse his brush, as it's one more thing that can spill and watered-down paints tend to drip more than thicker ones (plus he has this funny habit of painting with water instead of paint... with watercolors, he'll sometimes dip the brush in every color, without rinsing it in between or even touching it to the paper, then rinse the brush throughly, then brush water onto his paper), so we've been wiping the brush off with paper towel between colors, but this is wasteful and also requires more work on my part (although he's started wiping off the brush on his own now). Ideally, I'd like to be able to put one brush in each color of paint, so he could simply switch brushes when he wanted to switch colors, and we wouldn't have to worry about cleaning the brush all the time. But not only does the kit only include one brush, I haven't been able to find this type of brush on its own -it looks like the only way to get another one would be to buy a whole new kit.

Second, the smock doesn't have sleeves. I think this is a major oversight. At least with the little guy a babysit, his sleeves are the the main part of his shirt he gets paint on. Of course I always try to roll up his sleeves, but he won't always go for it (and if he decides he wants his sleeve back down, he won't hesitate to pull it down with a paint-covered hand), and even if he does, they fall down, and inevitably end up covered in paint as he reaches across his painting. Crayola does make a long-sleeved smock, and I wish they'd included this rather than the sleeveless version, even if the kit would have cost a bit more, or not included the smock at all -for a relatively neat and cautious toddler, the sleeveless version is pretty much useless.

Overall though, it's a great kit for toddlers and preschoolers. Although the kit says 36+ months, I'd recommend it for ages 2-3 years. Of course, the paints would work for any age, and the smock would fit much older kids (it even fit me when I tried it on to convince the little one to let me put it on him), but the paintbrush is most appropriate for toddlers and earlier preschoolers. For most kids, by age 4 a regular paintbrush (maybe the kind with thicker wood handles, but a regular shape at least) would probably be more appropriate for their increasingly developed fine motor skills.

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A very good beginning for my autistic son. He enjoys painting and being able to hold the brush in his little hands makes him feel independent.

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I was so looking forward to receiving this item for a 3-year old. However, when the box arrived I opened it and found blue and green paint inside the box and each container was covered in the same paint. I spent about 20 minutes cleaning before we were able to open any container. We have not used this item yet, as it was meant for a "rainy day" project this winter. I will update later.

Honest reviews on Crayola My First Crayola Painting Kit

MY KID REALY LOVE TO DRAW WITH THIS KIT

BRUSH IS VERY SOFT EASY TO WASH

REALY NICE KIT HIGHLY RECOMMAND

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This is the cutest little paint set!! My son is 18 months old and he loves it. The art smock that comes with it is great too! I have since went out and bought another one for when he has friends over!