Do you ever have those moments when you first see or hear of a new product or service, and think to yourself, “That is so obvious! Why didn’t I think of that?!”
That was me a few weeks ago.
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Kate is a serious artist.
The kid goes through crayon and marker books like they’re going out of style, and frequently ponders, “I wonder what we’ll do for our art project at preschool today?”
Every so often I toss out the crayons that are broken, and, of course, only about half of the crayons in the crayon tub actually still have their wrappers.
A few weeks ago Craig brought home a new type of Crayon.
They’re called Mini Twistables, and are made by Crayola.
These Twistables are awesome because they are encased in hard plastic, which eliminates the paper wrapper and greatly decreases the likelihood they will crack in half. They also can be twisted up, eliminating the need for sharpening.
So what’s my deal with Twistables?
Take a gander.
In case you can’t tell, the bottom object is the Twistables.
And what is the top object, you ask?
Why, it’s my eyeliner!
Notice any (striking) similarities between the two?
I don’t know that I still believe the old adage, “Necessity is the mother of invention.”
More like “Use someone else’s really great idea to make your product better.”
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On a different and very innovative kid-activity note, Kate has been having lots of fun completing lessons with Reading Kingdom*. It is this great online reading program geared for 4-10 year olds that also happens to teach hand-eye coordination (with the use of a mouse) and keyboarding. But more on that to come soon!
*I was compensated for this text link.
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{ 38 comments… read them below or add one }
Yes. Twistables are the best. We enjoy the colored pencils as well. Why didn’t WE think of that?
Hmmmmm. Maybe these Twistables would be successful in keeping my kids out of my makeup drawer.
those twistable crayons have been a favorite of mine for a while!!! Is it wrong that I still give the kids the other crayons and save the twistables for me???
Lol! I do the same!!! I love the twistables!
Have you tried using StarFall? Jolie plays on it & it’s great for teaching reading.
I hadn’t much thought about the similarities. That’s hilarious.
Have you tried the twistable as eyeliner? I find it stays put throughout the day!
I heart me- seriously- good art supplies! There is something else kind of cool called “silky colors” except these you squeeze. They are really bright, my kids like them.
Oh! We need twistables! We hav tears and tears and tears when a crayon breaks.
We love the twistables…..but think they need to make them in more colors!
OMG, what a wonderful idea!!. Toys these days are so different from ours used to be – Hubby and I can spend hours going through the toys isles and we are having a grand ol’ time – then we remember we forgot the cart and baby in the groceries isle… haha kidding!
My mom used to buy a cheap muffin pan and I’d put all my broken pieces of crayons in there, we’d pop them in the oven and wait until they were all melted. Then I’d have a multi color – crayon dollar. (Dollar as in Loonie from Canada, no wise cracks please!
Ok, I can’t shut up this morning, I’ve left 3 page long comments on a few blogs, it’s time I sign off, but how WONDERFUL that your little Kate is such an artist, Go Kate Go!
We have Twistables as well. I usually use them when Princess does all her fabulous art work while sitting at games. They are very easily transported. Another great Grandma gift! We also have about 700 markers, and a kajillion crayons (half of which have melted in my car this summer because Princess can’t sit in her car seat with nothing to do and is always smuggling them in), and a billion stampers. It drives my husband batty!
I love twistables! I won’t even share mine with the kids.
Twistables and I are not friends. They get twisted out to the very end and then snapped off.
As for your old crayons, get your hands on a old muffin tin, throw the bits of broken crayons in and melt them in the oven. Makes like tie-dyed crayon cakes. Bet your artist will love them.
never seen those twistables before…. but yeah… duh!!
Love twistables! Great invention! My second graders loved them!
Just don’t get them mixed up!
Or if you do, make sure you use some outrageous color.
Puce, maybe? Or lemon chiffon?
I’ll have to check out that reading site. My daughter eats up all thing online + reading. We use Starfall and Tumblebooks a ton as well.
I’ve used the twistables here at home, but my kids tend to keep TWISTING THEM until the edge falls off. Sheesh.
Those crayons are such a fab idea! And if you ever misplace or run out of eyeliner and don’t have time to take a trip to the store, you have a backup plan.
Yes Liz, I was the original creator of Aquafresh! I was about seven years old and always mixed the different color toothpaste in the house. One layer of white, one layer of blue, etc. Then I saw a commercial for Aquafresh a few years later. Ugh! These crayons look great! Just the other day we broke a couple crayons in the first minute of opening the box. OK, I’ll admit it, I broke the crayons. Have a great day!
Mama Hen
Hi Liz! My wee girl seems to be bitten by the same creative bug as your Kate. I don’t think she goes more than an hour or two of her waking moments without getting her creative on. In fact, right behind me, she has tissue paper, glue stick, and scissors…..and Curious George post-it notes that she’s drawing pictures on……..and a Madagascar coloring page printout with crayons. She’s taking a moment to live in imaginary land on the back deck, blow bubbles, scratch a kitty, and sing a song before she comes back in and narrows her morning creative ventures down to one.
Twistable crayons?! That could very possibly explode her noodle (aka brain/mind….we use a lot of pseudonyms in this house! lol)!!! :>:>
Don’t throw out the old or broken crayons! We use mini muffin pans to make colorful round crayons. One of my very first blog posts was about making heart shaped crayons for Valentine’s Day.
My girls love Twistables. We just bought some for the new school year. But they do break after they’ve been used for a while.
We love twistables here!!
I have an award for you!
Great idea! We haven’t tried these yet, but they look great!
I have thought of getting the crayola crayon maker for the broken crayons. It looks cool too!
Hmmm….twistables…we may just go get those this weekend. That IS a fantastic idea
I have those, “I shoulda thought of that” moments ALL the time!!! While not the most original, that crayon idea is spot on! Great that you have such a creative daughter!
I MUST get Drake some of those! Thanks for the heads up
Loooooove twistables. AND – they make colored pencils, too – which my 5 yr old LOVES.
They come out with all the cool stuff 5 million broken crayons and several years too late for me! I’m surprised they didn’t steal the eyeliner idea earlier. I’m still enthralled by that invisible paint. Also too late to save my house.
You crack me up. And by the way- been there done that, sister. Raw umber is the bomb.
I’m going to leave it to you to do an experiment for all of us and see if you can sub the Crayola for your eyeliner. You’d do that for us, right?
Wow, I wish Twistables had been available when my kids were smaller. Would have saved hundreds upon thousands of little pieces of wax spilling on the floor…
I see things like this all the time and wonder the same thing. Seems so simple! Those crayons look awesome. I don’t have kids but I may have to pick them up for myself (what? I like to color! LOL).
And how many people have said or heard someone say, “Why didn’t I think of that?!” in reference to Silly Bands? (simple little rubber bands in shapes sold as bracelets and a huge fad with kids, just in case you haven’t seen them)
We got a box of twistables (which my daughter adored) while my little shih tzu was a puppy. She loved to chew them as much as Jules loved to color. Perhaps we should put our heads together an invent a crayon dog chew. It could be huge!
You could melt those crayons down and make rainbow crayons with them…use a muffin tin for the mold. Make it into an activity since kids seem to have a thing for peeling the paper off crayons anyway.
P.S. Sorry I’ve been so lax about visiting lately. Changed my blog… to http://outofmymindontothepage.wordpress.com/
OK, so since my eyes look crappy and NOT awake, I am heading into the playroom in search of those darn Twistables. There HAS to be a color that will help?
Good to know as we move towards markers, etc. I just bought Lucas his first box of Crayolas! Yikes.
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