Going Back to School with Crayola + $25 Gift Card Giveaway!

Thanks to Crayola for providing the materials discussed in this post!

My little girl started kindergarten last week (tears!), and along with a pile of homework for her came a pile of papers for me to go through, one of them being a list of school supplies that we need to keep at home.  (Elementary school is a whole lot fancier now than it was when I went.)  Pencils, erasers, scissors, glue–all the things you’d expect a kindergartner to use for her cute homework assignments.  Also on the list were markers and crayons, and I knew just who to look to for that:  Crayola!

Crayola has been making the world more colorful for over 100 years, and they’re my go-to brand for creative fun.  They offer a huge selection of arts and crafts tools, which is good, because we needed a lot of stuff.  I couldn’t wait to load up my shopping basket with some multicolored goodies…you know, for the kids.  Yeah.

When I first arrived at the Crayola aisle, I was a bit overwhelmed, but in a good way.  I guess it had been a while since I’d shopped for this sort of thing, and I really had no idea how many options there were.  (I wanted to include a picture, but the store employees were just not into it.)  There was so much color, I didn’t know where to start–until the word “washable” caught my eye.  If you have kids, I don’t need to tell you how important that feature is.

The first thing I grabbed was a 24-pack of Ultra-Clean Washable Crayons, because everyone loves a fresh box of crayons, and I couldn’t resist that this one happens to have four new colors.  Next up were the new Crayola Ultra-Clean Washable Markers, featuring all-new washability technology that allows these markers to wash out of skin, clothing, and even painted walls.  I picked up both the broad tip markers, because my daughter likes to color with those, and the fine line markers, because she likes to use those for writing.

My favorite find was the washable glue, which I’d never heard of before.  My daughter, who is significantly more creative than I am, goes through glue in all its forms like nothing I’ve ever seen.  She’s always producing artwork that involves multiple layers and lots of glue, plus it was on the list anyway.  So, I got the Washable Glue Sticks and the Washable School Glue.  That should keep her busy for a day or two.  ☺

I really wanted to keep our new tools separate from the broken crayons and the mostly dried up markers that they use for playtime.  This is official school business!  So, I also got a cute box to store the supplies in, which we will keep at my daughter’s desk rather than the play area.

Cute, right?  I’m hoping this will keep the supplies in good condition and maybe even make homework time a little more exciting.

It seems to be working so far!  Every day after school, she sits down at her little table, takes out her school supply box, and gets to work. When she’s done, she puts everything back.  She’s such a big girl! (Sniff, sniff.)

Technically, this whole activity was for my daughter, but I didn’t want my son to feel left out, so I got him the Crayola Dry Erase Board Set and a pack of Dry Erase Crayons.  We’ve already started using this to help him practice his letters while my daughter’s in school and he’s home with me.  I like them for myself too; they’re great to use with my dry erase calendar.  Unfortunately, I was unable to find Crayola’s new Visi-Max Dry Erase Markers, but these are supposed to be more vibrant, making them easier to read and perfect for use in the classroom.

This was my first time shopping for school supplies, and I wasn’t expecting it to be so enjoyable, but who doesn’t love shopping for crayons?  I got everything on our list, but Crayola makes lots of other school necessities, such as Crayola Colored Pencils and Crayola Washable Watercolors.  For more information on all of their amazing products, visit Crayola.com.

Crayola is offering one lucky Game On Mom reader a $25 Visa Gift Card to help you stock up on school supplies!  Giveaway is open to US residents who are 18 and older.  Ends 9/30/14.  Good luck!

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I received a gift card in order to purchase the products mentioned in this post.  All opinions expressed here are my own.