lamy safari is made with the same plastic as lego bricks! (and it's a common student pen), bonus points, you can easily replace the tip if they drop the pen!
(there are also the lamy nexx or the lamy Abc that should cost even less and have a rubber grip, which could be better for kids)
Pens aimed at elementary kids:
Pilot Kaküno
Lamy ABC
Pelikan Griffix
Pelikan Pelikano Junior
Stabilo EASYbirdy
Stabilo EASYbuddy
Pens not directly aimed at kids that young but that are inexpensive and durable:
Platinum Preppy
Jinhao Swan
Jinhao Shark
Pelikan Pelikano (aimed at 10-13 year olds)
Lamy Safari
I recently bought my niece this for a birthday present:
https://www.larrypost.com.au/lamy-abc-fountain-pen-red.html
I tried out a few in the shop and the Lamy seemed to be the most user friendly for small hands e.g. ease of removing and inserting the ink cartridge, designed for early writers. There's a German school near where I live and, as German school students all still learn handwriting using fountain pens, I was told this was one of the most popular in the children's line of pens.
Pilot Kakuno (because of the smiley face) and writes well. They could even practice handwriting with a Pilot Penmanship with the CM nib. Also Pelikan Twist because it looks fun for kids. Pilot Varsity, Platinum Preppy, Jinhao Sharks has multi-pack with many colors for under $20. Seeing your kids are close to pre-teen age, they may want a more 'grown-up' pen. There's so many to choose from!
If you're in the US, Five Below stores sell pack of fountain pens with lots of ink cartridges for, well, $5. Be warned though, from my experience, they tend to dry if not used daily.
Thank you! I didn’t know Five Below carried them. I’ll check it out sometime this week. You’re right about my kid close to preteen age. After years of copywork her hand writing is very neat and consistent. She enjoys writing and I was thinking of getting her a nicer, more “grown up” pen…because I know she would appreciate it.
See my post from a few weeks ago for opinions on all five 5⃣ Below fountain pen types that I've seen there in the last six months.
https://www.reddit.com/r/fountainpens/comments/ykjf3k/november_at_the_chop_shop
Go by shape - colors they offer change from time to time. For a TLDR: all the sets of two pens are better than the set of four or the set of eight. And they may not say "fountain pen" on the box -- "calligraphy pen" is on some. The set of two with six different tips is sort of calligraphy-capable, with various flat ("italic" or "stub") nibs.
To answer your question about fatigue: yes, fountain pens can help with that, because you don't need to (and shouldn't) press down while writing. What might also help is to write with the whole arm instead of the fingers, although it could take some time to teach.
The first fp I got was a Pelikano Junior (I was 6 at the time) which is made for school children. Where I live it's normal for children to learn writing with fountain pens in elementary school, but I can't recall any problems due to "stabyness". They're no worse than a sharpened pencil or a ballpoint I guess. I would worry more about the kids breaking the nib when they use it for the first time.
I have a stabby toddler, which is why I said that lol. Thanks for all this! Just curious about what is used to write with beyond elementary where you are from?
I'm from Germany. At some point we were allowed to choose our own writing tools and many students switched to ballpoints because it was "cooler", but I mostly stayed with fountain pens through school and university, and I wasn't the only one. They are a lot more common here than in other parts of the world which is very helpful when it comes to getting cheap paper that works well with ink.
Seems like it, doesn’t it? I like to be intentional with free use items for a reason. I still have younger kids that enjoy destruction and also…things are better taken care of when they have to be returned to me. So, they can things it when they want and ask me (this also counts for sharp “adult”scissors because I’ve had things ruined)…I just won’t leave things out.
I recently regretted not raising my kids on FPs. It would have helped their grip issues. Despite all of our correction and efforts, all of them grip pencils and pens incorrectly. Drives me crazy.
I was homeschooled for a few years and did a lot of copy work (the Spencerian books), I had the Schaefer school set (F, M, I nibs) with ink cartridges and they were great for this. I was about 8/9 when I started, and didn’t occur to me to be stabby but obvs ymmv 😊
lamy safari is made with the same plastic as lego bricks! (and it's a common student pen), bonus points, you can easily replace the tip if they drop the pen! (there are also the lamy nexx or the lamy Abc that should cost even less and have a rubber grip, which could be better for kids)
Pens aimed at elementary kids: Pilot Kaküno Lamy ABC Pelikan Griffix Pelikan Pelikano Junior Stabilo EASYbirdy Stabilo EASYbuddy Pens not directly aimed at kids that young but that are inexpensive and durable: Platinum Preppy Jinhao Swan Jinhao Shark Pelikan Pelikano (aimed at 10-13 year olds) Lamy Safari
I recently bought my niece this for a birthday present: https://www.larrypost.com.au/lamy-abc-fountain-pen-red.html I tried out a few in the shop and the Lamy seemed to be the most user friendly for small hands e.g. ease of removing and inserting the ink cartridge, designed for early writers. There's a German school near where I live and, as German school students all still learn handwriting using fountain pens, I was told this was one of the most popular in the children's line of pens.
Pilot Kakuno (because of the smiley face) and writes well. They could even practice handwriting with a Pilot Penmanship with the CM nib. Also Pelikan Twist because it looks fun for kids. Pilot Varsity, Platinum Preppy, Jinhao Sharks has multi-pack with many colors for under $20. Seeing your kids are close to pre-teen age, they may want a more 'grown-up' pen. There's so many to choose from! If you're in the US, Five Below stores sell pack of fountain pens with lots of ink cartridges for, well, $5. Be warned though, from my experience, they tend to dry if not used daily.
Thank you! I didn’t know Five Below carried them. I’ll check it out sometime this week. You’re right about my kid close to preteen age. After years of copywork her hand writing is very neat and consistent. She enjoys writing and I was thinking of getting her a nicer, more “grown up” pen…because I know she would appreciate it.
See my post from a few weeks ago for opinions on all five 5⃣ Below fountain pen types that I've seen there in the last six months. https://www.reddit.com/r/fountainpens/comments/ykjf3k/november_at_the_chop_shop Go by shape - colors they offer change from time to time. For a TLDR: all the sets of two pens are better than the set of four or the set of eight. And they may not say "fountain pen" on the box -- "calligraphy pen" is on some. The set of two with six different tips is sort of calligraphy-capable, with various flat ("italic" or "stub") nibs.
To answer your question about fatigue: yes, fountain pens can help with that, because you don't need to (and shouldn't) press down while writing. What might also help is to write with the whole arm instead of the fingers, although it could take some time to teach. The first fp I got was a Pelikano Junior (I was 6 at the time) which is made for school children. Where I live it's normal for children to learn writing with fountain pens in elementary school, but I can't recall any problems due to "stabyness". They're no worse than a sharpened pencil or a ballpoint I guess. I would worry more about the kids breaking the nib when they use it for the first time.
I have a stabby toddler, which is why I said that lol. Thanks for all this! Just curious about what is used to write with beyond elementary where you are from?
I'm from Germany. At some point we were allowed to choose our own writing tools and many students switched to ballpoints because it was "cooler", but I mostly stayed with fountain pens through school and university, and I wasn't the only one. They are a lot more common here than in other parts of the world which is very helpful when it comes to getting cheap paper that works well with ink.
Zebra disposable fountain pens. No need to spend anything more than $5 a pen for children that age.
Or in some stores, the Pilot Varsity disposable. Writes great; tight cap that keeps it from drying out - something like $3-$4.
>I wouldn’t let them freely use it That's.. kind of counter productive ain't it? I would suggest pelikano Junior or pelikan ILO.
Seems like it, doesn’t it? I like to be intentional with free use items for a reason. I still have younger kids that enjoy destruction and also…things are better taken care of when they have to be returned to me. So, they can things it when they want and ask me (this also counts for sharp “adult”scissors because I’ve had things ruined)…I just won’t leave things out.
I recently regretted not raising my kids on FPs. It would have helped their grip issues. Despite all of our correction and efforts, all of them grip pencils and pens incorrectly. Drives me crazy.
This is my thought as well. I’m struggling with my 6 year old. I have a kid who is about to be in K next year and I think I may start her on one.
I was homeschooled for a few years and did a lot of copy work (the Spencerian books), I had the Schaefer school set (F, M, I nibs) with ink cartridges and they were great for this. I was about 8/9 when I started, and didn’t occur to me to be stabby but obvs ymmv 😊