art with ms. y.

Have you been tempted to purchase crayons at your local discount store? Have you thought that since a box of crayons has 36 instead of 24 that that’s a bonus of 12 bonus crayons, so of course that should be the right option? I’ve been there and learned a slew of valuable lessons in the process. When it comes to basic art supplies for kids, quite often Crayola is the number one brand that comes to mind. I’m here to tell you that’s for a reason. I decided to take the time to rate 5 of the most accessible brands of crayons and test them so that you don’t have to.

Since Crayola dominates the art supply market, I started there. WHY do I turn to this brand as a default, even if they cost a little more? What IS so special about the classic green and yellow box? For me, I realize that it’s the higher pigment levels that make each color bright. And, it’s the smoothness of the draw, so marks are not lumpy and bumpy.

The next brand I tried was Bazic. After coloring with them, I saw that the pigment level was pretty good; however, as I was coloring, the crayons were starting to crumble. Small chunks of the crayons were left on my paper. Pretty annoying.

Crayons made by Cra-Z-Art had a decent amount of pigment in them. They didn’t crumble as much as Bazic did; however, they did leave more crumbs than Crayolas. Overall, not bad at all for a generic and inexpensive crayon.

Next was Playskool. All I have to say is, don’t waste your money. Really. The pigment was very low, so the colors were not very vibrant at all. They were very crumbly and just very disappointing. You’re probably already familiar with the name Playskool, since they make and sell plenty of kids’ toys and activities. Their crayons, though? Nope.

Last was a brand called Imperial. This brand came in last as far as rating all of them. Colors were not vibrant, they crumbled and even broke a lot, and they just felt like they were too waxy. All I can say is that they were a big disappointment.

So, rated from best to worst goes something like this:

1. Crayola
2. Cra-Z-Art
3. Bazic
4. Playskool
5. Imperial