Ever since my boys were old enough to hold a pencil or crayon I have tried to instill in them the art of good penmanship. At first I thought I had a good grasp on the situation with each of them progressing at their own rate – but progressing nonetheless. They had the basics of numbers and letters and were starting to write words and number combinations. My youngest son was the only one to have the Crayola Beginning Alphabet & Number Pad to work with however all of them had some type of preprinted lettering guide available to them. The advantage of the Crayola lettering book is that it comes with the alphabet and numbers from one to nine printed on the inside cover.

Crayola’s Beginning Alphabet & Number Pad

This thirty sheet tablet features wide lines for the child that is just starting out with learning to write letters and numbers. The pages aren’t that thick so I recommend using crayons or pencils instead of pens or markers to prevent ripping the page or the ink from markers bleeding through to other pages of the book. The sheets rip out easily but it’s best to try and make sure that you remove any excess paper from the glued spine that may have been left after a page was ripped out unevenly. My son preferred to keep the pages in the book while my neighbor’s daughter likes to rip them out and work on them at the kitchen table. The lines are large enough for even the youngest of kids to be able to use and the guidelines make it easy for them to copy the letters from the printed chart on the inside of the cover.

Once a child has mastered the alphabet you can move on to basic words. I used to make large charts for my son with basic words like bird, cat, dog, sun, bee, horse and other common words. I would take some basic clip art images and print them up with the words next to them and glue them to poster board sheets. He loved being able to look at the chart, recognize the picture and word and write it in his book. This is a great way for kids to get the basics of spelling and work on their penmanship at the same time. When they get a little older they can make booklets out of the pages or write short stories. You might just think that this tablet is for learning the basics of the alphabet and writing them correctly but there are a lot of different things that this can be used for – all it takes is a little imagination.

Things To Know

There are several Crayola tablets that are centered around lettering, this is one of the basics that gives you the alphabet and numbers with blank pages. Another Crayola book I’ll suggest for those just starting out is the Color Wonder Learning Book – Alphabet. This combines the Color Wonder premise of no mess markers that only write on special paper with a very nice spiral bound book that teaches the basics of the alphabet. There is also a Color Wonder Learning Book just for numbers that teaches how to write the numbers and some basic additional skills. These are available for about $5.99 and are a great way to jump-start your childs education and come with the book as well as a few markers. Specially marked packages also come with sample packs of the Color Wonder Paper for you to try out.

The Bottom Line

My youngest son really liked this book which surprised me a little since he was pretty picky about the tablets and workbooks he would use; even at a young age he showed a preference for basic books over the fancy color ones. My neighbor’s daughter loves the cute and colorful cover and really enjoyed practicing her letters and numbers on the pages. For me, I liked the fact that my son recognized the Crayola name on the cover and would always smile when I’d pick up a new one for him. These might be a little more expensive than the regular lettering and writing tablets but I’d rather pay a little more and get white pages with blue lines than the cream colored newsprint pages that looked rather dull and drab.

You can never have enough of these around the house when a child is learning the alphabet. I found that the Crayola Beginning Alphabet & Number Pad is a cut above the rest because of the quality of the lines, lettering guide and overall cost. I picked these up dirt cheap when the back to school sale at Wal-Mart was coming to a close this year but normally they are priced anywhere from $1.29 to $1.79 depending on where and when you purchase them. Since my son has long since outgrown these types of lettering guides my neighbor’s daughter is benefiting from my borderline bulk purchase of these. When she is done with them they’ll get shipped off to the homeschool depot, a nifty place where homeschoolers donate books and materials they no longer need.


As always, thanks for the visit!

^V^ Freak ^V^

© 2003 Freak369


Other Crayola product reviews …

• Big MiniStampers • Doodle Pad • Watercolor Pencils • Art & Craft Brushes – 8 Count • Create-A-Kid • Collecting Keepsakes • Halloween Treat Pack • Halloween Boo Bucket • Washable Water Colors – 8 Color • Pencil Pouch • Crayola Crayons – 24 Count • Metallic Crayons • Superfine Markers – 5 Count • Gel FX Washable Markers • Tub of Fun • Crayola Sketch Pad • Point Tip Scissors • Sidewalk Chalk – Chicks & Eggs • Art & Craft Brushes – 4 Count • Twistables – 16 Count • Stack-N-Store Art Tower • Washable Water Colors – 24 Color • Sidewalk Chalk – Animal Assortment • Crayola Lap Desk • Click ‘Em On Washable Markers • Washable Markers – 16 Count • Alphabet & Number Pad • Blunt Tip Scissors • Spinning Desk Top Organizer • Crayola Online Store •





Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): See Review
Type of Toy: Educational