Toyologist Review: Triangular Crayon Set

£4.99. Online/instore availability at Toys R Us is currently 'in negotiations'.

Crayons... A stick of coloured wax, charcoal, chalk or materials used for writing, colouring, drawing and other methods of illustration. These crayons from Melissa & Doug are almost definitely not made of charcoal and very likely made of something more along the lines of wax.

Reviewing these are Mr Bump (aged 4, above left) and Ace McCloud (aged 2, above right). For those new to the crayoning world, I asked Mr Bump to explain how they worked.

"You draw with them and the colour comes off on the paper."

So now you know. And knowing is half the battle.

Red: colour of sin, guilt, pain, passion, blood and anger. And the Red Hulk.

The crayons come in a pack of 24, covering pretty much every colour you're likely to need (red and yellow and pink and green, purple and orange and blue). They come in a sturdy case which closes tightly (but not too tightly) so these are unlikely to spill everywhere whenever a child picks up the box.

These crayons are the X-Men of the colouring world, the mutants: they're triangular (or truncated trigonal hosohedron, if you prefer). I haven't been to school in quite a long time, but from what I can remember triangular pens, pencils, crayons, etc are supposed to be good for improving a child's grip. It also means you don't have to spend all your time reaching down to the floor where they've rolled off.

This makes them slightly less likely to be ground into the carpet than regular cylindrical crayons.

Blue. Like the Moon.

I could have sworn that the box said that the crayons were extra-strong, so told Mr Bump to try breaking them. This proved to be relatively easy.

While I was busy rereading the box and finding out that it didn't in fact say it was extra-strong and just stronger than regular crayons (which they are, I guess, but not by much), unknown to me Mr Bump was busy testing the strength of the other crayons.

Turns out they're all of equal strength. We also now have a pack of 48 mini-crayons. Lucky us!

This may seem a bit obvious, but these crayons work. The colour actually does come off on the paper when you draw with them, unlike some of the cheaper things which are only fit for...well, not much really. Certainly not making pictures with.

In brightest day, in blackest night, no evil shall escape my sight.

You can also lay different colours on top of each other to create shading and other effects. I would include a picture of some of the patterns I achieved with these crayons, but I don't want to announce to the world that I have a Spider-Man colouring book that only Dad is allowed to colour in.

It's relaxing, okay? OKAY?

The children, being as young as they are, don't really care about interesting shading, however. They just want to spread colour chaos over the page.

It's not easy being green.

As much as I was tempted, these haven't been tested on that old crayoning favourite: the wall. I have no idea how well they operate on wallpaper or painted surfaces. This is because I'd quite like all my deposit back from my landlord when we move out.

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