Stabilo Back to school review

While school uniform and school shoe shopping may be a bit of a parental headache, I do have to admit to secretly loving the chance to go out and buy a whole new load of stationery for going back to school. As I'm a teacher, I get to pick out just as many new pens as the girls ! We were therefore very pleased when Stabilo offered to send us through a selection of their products to try out.

First up were these EASYoriginal pens, which come in both left- and right-handed versions. The shape looked a bit strange and awkward to me, but they're designed specifically for children learning to write and both Juliette and Sophie found them really easy to hold because they are ergonomically designed with built-in finger holds. Sophie said they were easier to control than normal pens and thought they made her handwriting look much neater. Juliette just thought they looked very posh and wanted to show it off to her friends ! (RRP £6.99)

They both absolutely loved the cute mini highlighters from the Stabilo Boss Mini range. These ones are from the Ocean Friends limited edition range which you may not be able to find now but I'm sure there will be other collections to take their place. Aside from the very appealing characters on the side, I also love the smaller size which takes up less space in your pencil case than the normal chunky highlighters. (RRP £3.89 for a pack of 3)

Next, we tried out some Trio-Scribbi pens (at the bottom) which are chunky colouring pens, described by Stabilo as almost indestructible because they have a push-resistant nib. (Get ready for the collective sigh of relief from parents across the globe !) The chunky triangular shape makes it really easy for small children to hold on to. The Madhouse mini-testers love the shape and solidity but I love the fact that they are labelled as super-washable - yay ! (RRP £11.42 for a wallet of 8)

In the middle are the Point 88 pens that I always treat myself to at back-to-school time because I cheer myself up when I'm working my way through a huge pile of marking by switching colours rather than sticking with the same old boring red pen ! I love the bright colours, the fine nib and the fact that they don't streak all over the place. (RRP £20 for 20)

The ones that most caught my eye, though, were the Cappi ones at the top. The lids have a little loop and they are all attached together on a plastic ring. This has three major advantages - firstly, your kids won't keep losing the lids so the pens won't dry out so quickly. Secondly, it'll make it much harder for their schoolfriends to keep pinching their felt tips ! And thirdly, it will stop them from chewing the pen lids. I was also very impressed to see that you can leave them uncapped for up to 24 hours without them drying out. Both girls have already asked me if I can buy them some for school ! (RRP £12.96 for 24)

I must admit, I usually go for the supermarket own brand felt tips and colouring pencils because they always get lost or messed up so quickly, but having tried out the Stabilo products, I can see that they are higher quality and better designed.

star rating : 4.5/5

RRP : see individual prices above

for more information : www.stabilo.co.uk

Disclosure : I received the selection of products above in order to write an honest review.

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