Crayola Colouring Pencils

Crayola are a well known brand of children's pencils/crayons and educational toys. The produce packs of colouring pencils in 8's, 16's or 24's. They did used to produce a jumbo size pack but I'm not sure if that is still true (edit: just checked, you can get packs of 50). The pencils come in a distinctive yellow box with the yellow and green Crayola logo on them, very well known to people in the UK and the USA (where they are produced). I regularly use these with my class that I teach and have to say they are my favourite of all colouring pencils.

The thing that draws me into Crayola is the diverse range of colours that you can get. Why have one red pencil when you could have three different shades? There is a gorgeous range of colours that allow you to colour in pictures beautifully and they have a really vibrant look about them. The pencils are also smooth on the outside and shiny so they look really slick when you colour in with them (I'm sure kids wouldn't care, but as an adult, I do tend to think of these things!). Each pencil is embossed with the word Crayola on them and usually the name or shade of colour of the pencil. The crayons are really lovely to colour in with, you don't have to press hard on them to get a nice colour out of them, the harder you press obviously the darker the colour, but you can get wonderful tonal effects from the crayons just by the amount of pressure you use. I know most crayons can do this, but I happen to think Crayola do it best. Also you can blend colours together and they blend together really well, it must be something to do with the formula of the crayon lead. The crayons sharpen really well and you don't typically have to sharpen half the pencil away before you get a decently sharp lead in the pencil.