Last week, we took delivery of our first parcel from Toys R Us as part of the Toyologist programme. The Boy and I ripped it open excitedly and found a whole host of lovely products inside to review. The item that he kept going back to time and time again, and was most insistent that I open was a pack of crayons. I know! Crayons, I ask you.

However, these aren't just crayons, these are Melissa & Doug crayons.

Aren't they pretty? And look at the lovely hard-wearing case that they come in!

(I will say though that luckily, the pack we received had the colours arranged like a spectrum which pleased my OCD tendencies. The picture above disturbs me slightly).

Now I don't want you thinking that I am a crayon snob (because I'm not), but there are an awful lot of rubbish colouring implements out there: luckily these are not them. The Melissa & Doug crayons are really good quality, partly because of the fact that they are made of plastic, not wax, which makes them very durable. The colours are bold and the lines that come from them are fine and even (trust me, I rant in school about children's inability to colour properly, poor materials do not help them).

Using my teacher-head here, not only am I impressed with the materials that the crayons are made from, but also the shape of them as they are triangular. In the marketing blurb it talk about how this is good because they don't roll-away and this is true; however for me I can see that they promote the correct grip.

Accompanying the crayons was the Melissa & Doug Jumbo Colouring Pad. I really like this pad because each of the fifty sheets has a large picture drawn on it. Not cartoon-style drawings, which annoy me because they don't resemble the real-life images, but proper representations in decent outlines. They also are only printed on only one side so that if your child, unlike The Boy, did a super job of colouring in and you wanted to display it, you can! The paper is really good quality, doesn't crumple or rip while they are colouring, and it tears from the pad really easily.

The Boy got straight in there!

We had The Boy's cousins over on the weekend and this is what happened:

 

Girl Cousin said she liked them because "they are like pens so it makes you try harder". Boy Cousin said, "they are funny shaped, I like them". Fiery Girl Cousin said, "they feel nice to use and I like the colours." The Boy said, "colour this, YES!"

There you go: out of the mouths of babes!

The crayons come in a pack of 24 and are priced at £4.99, the same price as the jumbo colouring pad.

I was provided with these items free of charge as part of the Toys R Us Toyologist programme and for review purposes. My opinions are my own and honest, as always.