Preschool- and early-elementary age children do not need to be taught how to be creative. They are a fountain of surprising perspectives, unassimilated flights of fancy, and wild ideas filtered through a kaleidescopic and rapidly shifting internal logic. Watching a child who has pushed him- or herself to the point of mastering the crayon, the marker, and the pen to the point where they can make their hand approximate what they see in their mind is a magical process. It is a special process. And it has no need for "lessons about the creative use of color and patterns" that open with color-by-number coloring pages and then "progress" to freedom through mastery of a particular artist's highly personal and signature style. Period.

P'kolino disagrees with this philosophy, and apparently pop artist Romero Britto does as well, because they've just come out with a "Color Like An Artist" coloring book that will teach your child, in paint-by-number fashion, to "use patterns and colors" like he does. You too can have a little Romero Britto Jr. churning out masterpieces for your refrigerator door!

I have two arguments to offer in my attempt to protect your child from this book.

First: To say that art is supposed to be a fun, freeing activity for young children, rather than providing an adult expectation to "measure up to," might seem like a prescription for some children but not others. If a coloring page is telling them what form the objects in their mind should take on paper, telling them what colors to use, and where, might genuinely excite a child who enjoys learning other subjects through worksheets. But art, for the preschool and early primary-grade child, is different from reading, writing, telling time, and anything else you could teach through a fill-in-the-blank model. Art is about exploring and expressing a child's own thoughts and ideas about the world at a time when words inevitably fail them. A young child who would prefer to be told how to draw something is one step away from asking you to just draw it for them. There is a fine line between pulling an assist and helping your child work out a technical matter they are dealing with, and dominating their imagination.

Second: Your child is more creative than you. Not only that, but your child -- not some fictional, idealized, or gifted child, your child -- is more creative than Romero Britto, Pablo Picasso, or anyone else who might deign to "teach" your young child about art. What those artists had, or have, that your child doesn't, are technical skills, an interest and/or insight into themes beyond the range of childhood, and an educational and creative background that puts more tools at their disposal in expressing themselves. The age range of this product -- 2-6 -- is not the right time for these topics. And as far as creativity is concerned, the best a professional artist can do is preserve or recapture for themselves some part of what your child naturally possesses.

Adult fans of Romero Britto's "optimistic" pop style have plenty of ways to surround themselves with it -- jewelry or salt and pepper shakers from the Franklin Mint, Britto luggage sets, as well as trinket boxes, travel mugs, wine bottle stoppers, wind chimes. As for your commendable impulse to train up your two- to six-year-old child for adulthood, teach them to ride a bike, play Angry Birds, or make salt dough ornaments, but don't try to help them learn to be creative. It's one of the rare and precious cases where you can sit back and let them teach you what you used to know.

Eco Kids USA's "Eco Dough" play dough is handmade by a very passionate and intense guy I met at the ABC Kids Expo and would have talked to all day if either of us had had the time. His company, which he runs with his wife, has the financial and moral support of Burt's-Bees-founder-turned-organic-clothing-company-Happy-Green-Bee-founder Roxanne Quimby. In addition to play dough Eco-Kids USA also makes a powdered tempera paint, also by hand, and sell colored pencils and art pads that are sourced out. We're guessing Roxanne's hand is still at work in the company, as they announced recently that they're relocating from California to Maine, which happens to be where she lives. If one wanted to speculate.

Their play dough is a rare concoction of all-natural ingredients and plant and vegetable extracts, dyed by beets, spinach, paprika, carrots, purple sweet potato, red cabbage, blueberries and tomatoes. They also make a gluten-free play dough, which is made with rice, banana or potato flour. That version will really cost you, but if you are needing gluten-free it is probably worth it.

We are do-it-yourselfers and would never think of buying play dough but handling this stuff makes it clear how you could justify it. Roughly one-cup-size portions of five vibrant but earth-toned colors of play dough come in a cardboard tube and are easy to get out and put away; our homemade play dough tends to take up the whole house and even with the artificial food colorings we never get colors half as rich. The moisture level is also uniformly just right - ours sometimes comes out a little, eh, sticky. Besides, many of us do buy play dough in a pinch, even if we like the idea of making it, but I always hated for our daughter to get all those weird Play-Doh ingredients on her hands, even if it is supposed to be non-toxic. (No, we don't have any evidence that Play-Doh is toxic. But still.)

A set of five colors of Eco Dough sells for $20 plus shipping from Eco Kids USA's well-stocked shop.

The only warning I'd issue is that these vegetable dyes can bleed. No Hair's bald head was tanning-cream orange when we peeled that Legoman helmet off her scalp and the color only washed about 75% off with a little dish soap. Z also had some stuffed dogs "eating" play dough cookies and they have a bit of yellow on them. Personally I think this is fine - it will probably come out of the dogs' polyester fur once we throw them in the washing machine and there's nothing wrong with a little fakin' bakin' when it comes to Z's dolls - better that than the blue. But you'd better have your child play with this stuff in the proper type of space, not on your kitchen butcher block countertop.

We haven't yet used the paint but are eager to. It seems even more unique (whoops, "more unique," can I get a shout-out from a peeved English major?) than the play dough. We'll let you know what we find.

Like making homemade play dough? Make a "to go" play dough kit for a day at a caregiver's.

Our entire family is in love with Crayon Rocks. Z has always been a marker girl, snubbing crayons for markers or paint since she was given a choice between the two. It'd gotten to the point that I was actually considering getting rid of all of our crayons since they were so neglected.

Then the Crayon Rocks arrived in the mail. Z hesitantly used them the first time and as she used them she got more and more excited. Crayon Rocks, made of soy wax rather than (petroleum-based) paraffin, glide smoothly over the paper and leave behind brilliant, bright colors that can be blended and smudged in much the same manner as pastels. They are rock shaped not typical crayon shape and the rock shape encourages the use of the tripod grip which helps early scribblers train the muscles they need for fine motor skills. The rock shape also encourages an exploration of different techniques of marking the paper - using a flat side to make a wide swath of color or using a tip to make a thin line more than a standard paper wrapped crayon.


Fall colors.


Crayon Rocks are priced at $7.50 for 16 rocks or $5 for 8 rocks, and sold on their creators' website. The company is currently sold out but they are taking pre-orders and they have assured me that they will be shipping in time for the holidays.