Wax crayons: features and benefits

Children in preschool age like to draw absolutely everyone, without exception, and most importantly, this pastime helps to fully develop the child, contributing to the improvement of fine motor skills of hands and imagination, patience and color perception.

In this regard, many parents not only do not interfere with children's art, threatening with a sudden change in the design of the apartment parts available to the child, but also contribute to the earliest possible fascination of children with such a hobby. In such conditions, wax crayons are almost ideal.

The first analogues of modern wax crayons appeared many years ago - this is artistic pastel. The material, which today is also more perceived as designed for children's creativity, used to be actively used by serious artists for sketches, and sometimes - for full-fledged paintings.

Of course, modern wax crayons differ significantly from classical pastels and even from the product that is called “pastel” today. This material is sometimes used as a component for real art, while wax crayons are rightly called the “cheap” version for children.

Ordinary chalk is not able to give all the advantages that professional pastel, but on the other hand they are maximally sharpened for the safety of the baby who uses them, - the composition should be a minimum of harmful additives. The low cost allows parents to purchase similar tools for drawing in virtually unlimited quantities, which opens up unlimited creative horizons for the child.

The modern market offers a choice of a huge variety of products for drawing, and many of them are not bad even for the youngest children. However, wax crayons are a great solution for babies as young as one, and all because such a tool has a number of useful qualities:

• Security. It should be noted that parents still need to carefully study the composition of crayons before buying, since not all manufacturers are honest. However, the composition of wax crayons does not require the presence of harmful chemicals, so that even young children can use them without fear for their health.

• Softness. Wax-based crayons are distinguished by a rather high fat content, due to which they leave a bright, well-marked mark on almost any paper. This is very convenient for kids who do not yet have the strength in their hands for confident pressing.
• Convenience. Crayon, unlike most other drawing tools, writes from either side. If the pencil still needs to be learned to hold correctly, then the chalk can be taken by either side - it will still draw.

• The possibility of improving technology. Because of its special structure, this material does not break, so the kid will not have to be upset because of the crumbled, quickly spoiled chalk. However, if you wish, you can sharpen it with something sharp, because thanks to this you can adjust the thickness of the line. If you need to remove incorrectly drawn or just unnecessary parts enough to use an ordinary eraser - and the paper will be clean again.
• Crumbs reuse. If the wand crumbles heavily, which is why it is spent unproductively, then this is not a problem, because the resulting crumb can be reused. To do this, you need to collect it by color and heat it in the oven - to melt the wax, a temperature of several tens of degrees is sufficient. After that, a warm thick mass needs to be shaped like a stick or another more comfortable one, let it cool, and the product is ready for further use.

Although the composition of wax chalk seems rather simple - pigment and wax - in fact, in modern recipes everything is much more complicated. Parents should not be too lazy to pre-read the composition, because even with a completely harmless compounding, an allergic reaction of the child to one or another component is not excluded.

Chalk production begins with several types of wax, mainly of paraffin origin, which melt at a temperature of several tens of degrees. After that, fillers are added to the melted mass, which not only increase the total volume of production, but also reduce the fragility of the sticks, because without such addition they would crumble much more.

Contrary to the fact that paraffin wax in itself has a good indicator of erasure, stearic acid is added to the composition, which contributes to a greater visibility of the trail left. After that, the manufacturer is forced to supplement the mixture with other components, for example, with additives to prevent the mass from sticking to the form.

Dyes are added at the latest. Some manufacturers offer the choice of consumers for more than a hundred shades of wax crayons, which already suggests the synthetic origin of the dyes used. However, not all companies producing such products necessarily use harmful components, so you just need to choose carefully.

Do not take wax crayons as a kind of standard product that is always the same - in the pursuit of consumer attention, modern manufacturers have come up with dozens of varieties of this product.

First, the drawings made with wax crayons may look different - it depends on the type of pigments used in them. A typical ingredient in such crayons is watercolor, although the presence of wax does not contribute to its erosion.

For most parents, the usual form of producing wax parts are the sticks, however, they can also vary in shape: such elements are thick and thin. Trihedral wax crayons are also available for drawing on paper, and even small pebbles, the shape of which is rather difficult to describe. Triangular crayons are very good for tinting large monochromatic surfaces.

Choosing a set, you need to pay attention to the number of colors. As the first such gift, there are enough 6 colors, if only they were bright enough - it is unlikely that the kid has ready creative ideas that require the use of a full-fledged palette. Sets of 12-24 colors will be a good gift for a preschooler who loves drawing with crayons, devotes a lot of time to him and even achieved some success in his hobby. Occasionally there are also sets of 36 colors - they are already designed for children who are specially trained in pastel drawing techniques.

Children's crayons must be reliably protected from accidental soiling of any surfaces., in spite of the fact that it will not be difficult to clean their tracks. Some manufacturers, in pursuit of cheaper goods, produce sets in cartons, but it is better to purchase a set in a plastic box - it also guarantees the integrity of each stick.An alternative solution can be crayons in a plastic case with an unscrewing mechanism; they structurally resemble finger glue.

Finally, there are also wax crayons of a relatively unconventional purpose. You can purchase a variety of such a product, designed specifically for labeling - this tool is not suitable for drawing, as to highlight the necessary thoughts in the textbook. Kids will love the fluorescent options produced on the basis of glowing in the dark pigments.

The modern color variety of wax crayons is amazing - some manufacturers in their palette offer more than a hundred shades. Of course, a set with so many tones is unlikely to be found, and it’s not necessary for a child so much - it would be more correct to call such products “full-fledged professional pastel”.

Children are most often bought colored chalk in a set that includes, first of all, all the most basic shades. It should be noted that the colors of this tool do not mix: the shade applied from above just overlaps the bottom one. This means that the number of color options in the set represents the maximum number of colors in the young artist's palette.

Nowadays, dozens of companies around the world are engaged in the production of children's wax crayons, but in Russia the production of not more than a dozen brands has become relatively widespread. They can be divided into domestic, Chinese and foreign.

Among Russian manufacturers, the most famous are companies that occupy leading positions in the production of goods for creativity - these are famous "Gamma" and "Ray". You can buy them literally everywhere, the variety of sets is also quite wide, and most importantly, with a low price, they give an acceptable result. As a first set, such a gift for a baby would be a good decision.

Products from China have long been no longer perceived in the context of stereotypes of the end of the last century, when such products were regarded as goods of poor performance. On the other hand, some Chinese manufacturers still make consumers regret the money spent: crayons may not be so soft, they crumble too easily, do not have high brightness, or, worst of all, may contain harmful components.

The traditional advantage of Chinese products is the extremely low price that can give odds to domestic counterparts. However, the choice of such a purchase should be approached with great care - better to buy it solely on the advice of friends.

Foreign samples, brought to us mainly from Western Europe and America, are of good quality, but also at a fairly high price, which does not allow us to consider them as a generally available product. Of course, any family will be able to purchase one set, but when the child is carried away (especially if the result is impressive), then regularly providing a baby with such crayons can be a problem.

Western manufacturers, represented in our market, offer products with different quality, so their choice is a matter of taste, but in general, all sets are worthy of attention. Among the manufacturers should be highlighted, in particular, American company Crayola and Spanish Jovi, although this list certainly does not end there.

Choosing a chalk for children on the basis of wax, you should pay attention to some characteristics of the product, which will be important in the process of operation:

• Base material. Most of the crayons are based on paraffin, but it is better to look for a variant based on natural wax, especially for babies. Such a purchase will cost more, but the result will, on average, please much more (at least, such small ones are more plastic).

• Information on the packaging. A bona fide manufacturer must indicate the composition of its products so that parents can carefully read it and draw conclusions about the benefits or harms of such a kit for the baby. If there is any danger from the misuse of chalk, this will be indicated. It is important to pay attention also to the recommended age of the young artist (he may indicate the presence of harmful components that are undesirable for getting into the mouth) and shelf life.
• The brand. No wonder some companies have gained worldwide fame and sell their products in millions of packages annually - this indicates that consumers never have any complaints about such products. The manufacturer, who values ​​his good name and spent many years on the promotion of the brand, is sure to put his name and the address where the set was made on the packaging.

If we put aside comments about the products of very dubious manufacturers, then we get the following picture: wax crayons praise absolutely all parents, and some cannot find even small minuses in them.

First of all, they emphasize safety. It is not only a safe chemical composition, but also a release form - unlike a pencil, a piece of chalk, even in the form of a stick, will not be so sharp to present a risk of injury as a result of careless handling.

Great value and convenience for the child. If he would have thrown pencils, felt-tip pens and paints at an early stage of his development due to the fact that he simply cannot draw anything meaningful by such means, then there is no such problem with crayons - they draw either side. Moreover, it is not even necessary for them to buy paper, because they write on a variety of surfaces, including street asphalt, and this saves parents money and cheers up passersby.

About what to do from the remnants of wax crayons, see the following video.