My understanding is that from a pedagogical point of view, the block crayons are intended for early elementary-aged children (grades 1-3) and are to facilitate specific coloring techniques. The book Coloring With Block Crayons by Sieglinde de Francesca is a great resource to learn how to use them and how to teach children to use them. She doesn't recommend direct instruction until first grade and says that young children can use whatever kind of crayon they want. She notes that some Waldorf educators feel that stick crayons are more appropriate for young children because it is easier to use them to draw the kinds of archetypal images that little ones usually draw as part of their natural development.
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We have both block and stick crayons. My son, who is almost 10, really dislikes the blocks and even with direct instruction has had a hard time learning how to use them. He uses them for certain effects like if he wants to cover the entire paper to make blue sky or if he wants to make green or brown land. But that's about it. My dd who is six uses both, but mostly the stick crayons. However when she is in first grade in a year or so I plan to teach her how to use the block crayons properly and I suspect it will not be as hard for her as for ds. She is more artistic in general. At this point I just have all the crayons out in a basket and she can choose what she wants.
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The block are more sturdy than the sticks, that's for sure. Even with my expensive Stockmar stick crayons, we've had quite a bit of breakage. With the blocks, they don't rarely break (unless thrown by some child in the middle of a tantrum). My biggest problem with the blocks is that my younger kids like to eat them. So I always end up with crayons full of bite marks.
Edited by Laurel - 5/10/12 at 7:34am
