Painting with pencils.

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Almost from the moment they discover crayons are not meant for eating, kids love to color. Once scribbling gives way to the less-imaginative concept of coloring between the lines, it may be time to graduate beyond the crayon to create more-advanced art. Watercolors, though, are messy, and parents shudder at turning budding Picassos loose with tempera and other paints that put walls, furniture, and clothes at peril.

Faber-Castell USA, Cleveland, Ohio, long a major player in the art supply field, has a clever melded product that combines control with the flair of painting, capturing the best of both worlds. Its Watercolor Pencils are used in the same way regular colored pencils are, with their break-resistant sharp points allowing youngsters to draw with great control. Once everything is colored to the child's satisfaction, the...