Quality Colored/Watercolor Pencils….

I have the Crayola ones and they are okay. =)  I have another medium range price set (but the name is totally escaping me right now) that work pretty well – we got them at the local scrapbook store on sale.  I also have used the Stampin’ Up set – and they are quite nice.  

You do kind of get what you pay for, but if you are just getting started, why pay a fortune for something you may not decide that you really like?  If you find that it is a fabulous art medium for your children and they are intently creating masterpiece after masterpiece and are frustrated or limited by the cheaper ones, you will know that you want to save up money for more expensive ones.  =)

If you are near an Ikea, there is a set in the children’s department. http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/67212600/

 They are thick and they color beautifully.  We have had our set for about 5 years and we are still using them.  We mainly reserve them for coloring big, open spaces on a page.  

We also like the Faber-Castell.  

http://www.amazon.com/Faber-Castell-Colored-Pencils-Pack-Colors/dp/B0042SUUWO

But honestly, yes, the Prismacolor are so much better.  But I think we mainly see this when we are mixing colors.  If it was a younger kid, I would not pay the price for the Prismacolor.  There is a Prismacolor set called “Scholar” that is a little cheaper.  I have seen them at WalMart in the school supplies for about $9 a set.  

The above post should say thick Lyra – They’re actually called Giant Lyra. Here is a link – http://www.dickblick.com/products/lyra-color-giant-sets/

Here’s a link to the others I mentioned – http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000SBFKTC

We do like prismacolor, but our favorite colored pencils are these “woodless” pencils – such gorgeous, rich colors.

http://www.dickblick.com/products/koh-i-noor-woodless-colored-pencil-sets/

They will break if dropped, so are best for bigger kids and adults.

I do believe the Prismacolor are worth it, however I have the crayola ones for our youner children (7 DS, 6 DD, and 2 DD). I will let DD6 use the prismacolors in her nature journal, depending on time and location, but not 7DS or 2DD (b/c they are just not ready).

I justified the cost by buying them as part of our Christmas gift one year. We do not spend much at all on Christmas, but this was our big family gift (I paid $50 for a 36-pencil set at JoAnns with coupons). I then purchased sketch books for our children to receive as individual gifts.

As I said in the other thread, the pencils are literaly going away (we have used them down to nebs for some; we have not had breakage issues but just sharpen them over and over and use them all the time). But we’ve had them since Christmas 2010, so I feel they have been worth it.

And no, Crayola is not even a comparison. You can see a big difference in quality, but we have those for the younger children and we take those when we travel with colored pencils in hand.

I have a set of Staedtler watercolor pencils from when I was an artsy major in college, they work great though I don’t know how the price compares to prismacolor or other brands.  I do have prismacolor regular colored pencils and they are awesome! The other day I noticed one of my unsharpened ones has a price tag of $.99! For one pencil! Apparently I didn’t mind dropping cash in college.  😛  I would have a really hard time with it now though, especially if I didn’t know for sure that they were that much better.