In my house, color is very important. Rather than lump the pencils, we took an old office supplies 3-part divider and set them in three separate categories:
Left: Reds, Orange, Pinks, and Yellow.
Center: Greens, Blues, and Purple.
Right: White, Black, Gray, Brown, and graphite.
Okay, I admit that I have a 5-yr old and I’m trying to keep the pencils both sharp, and have them put away rather than ending up on the floor. But this also helps to teach her a bit of organization, if not the starting elements of a healthy level of OCD.
However, organizing in this way has been part of learning the colors of the rainbow, learning about the difference between lighter and darker colors, and learning what makes brown, white, and gray so special.
It’s also helped us to pay more attention to keeping them sharp — always ready to draw with — helping us to be always ready to draw (instead of watching TV).
Waunder 