These pens are a great shape for being held but that’s about it. They only work by pushing directly down on the tip which means they don’t work at an angle or when used on any kind of easel. To top things off they only worked for a day!! Disappointing and a waste of money.Unlike other reviewers, we thought these were ok. They are NOT markers. They are self priming little paint brushes and for kids that want to doodle, they are fine. Wish they were packaged better & had caps. But, so far haven’t dried out. Figure if we get 1/2 dozen uses out of them, it’s ok.These markers were easy for my toddler daughter to grasp; however I found the amount of force required to get the paint to come out was more than my toddler could handle. Also the markers were portly dried up upon opening them. Save your money and just buy the bigger box of paintbrush markers by Crayola. Both my toddler and 8 year old used them and loved them (word of custom though with respect to younger children- if they get much of the paint in then it likely won’t come off with just a baby wipe- a full bath is required. With that said the paint came off easily in the bathtub.)So I ordered these for my 20 month old. She LOVES to color, but she never puts the lids back on her markers, so they dry out and I have to throw them away. VERY frustrating. So I got these. They don't have lids!!! WIN! But, I will say, the color doesn't flow from the pen very easily. But I dunt think she really notices.. the color just comes out splotchy....I had higher expectations for these from Crayola. They are more ink-like than paint-like and so messier than I anticipated. They wipe off surfaces easily enough, but they tend to stain my daughter’s hands for a day or so. They don’t have caps and are kind of weird to store. On the positive, they make bright, bold colors on paper and she has fun splattering the ink.The paint doesn’t flow like I was hoping; my toddler got bored quickly. He prefers using markers. The concept is cool, but I prefer the regular paint with brushes.My 3 year old loves them.4 stars as this project was well worth buying and my son really enjoyed them. What kind of irritates me is that there isn't a simple button to push to get a flow started. You have to literally push the end of the brush into it to get a flow. Doesn't work well when in the middle of drawing.