Cool, colourful stationery stocking fillers from Helix Maped

A great gift idea for school age children is stationery. Kids love something shiny and new in their pencil case or school bag, so it's a good idea to pop some lovely, colourful, kid-friendly stationery in their Christmas stockings. Anything that encourages my six year old Freddy to put pen to paper is a good thing, so if I can add an element of fun to writing, all the better. Even reluctant writers won't be able to resist when faced with a selection of cool, funky stationery,  such as these lovely products from Maped.

Maped Helix is a stationery brand with a long history in making educational supplies. The Maped products are the fun side of the brand, giving brightly coloured, quirkily designed, stationery supplies that the kids will love using. We were sent some products from the range to try.

The product that immediately caught my eye was the Bunny Innovation sharpener. The rabbit's mouth has buck teeth that move up and down when the pencil is sharpened as if nibbling on the pencil, helping kids learn to use the sharpener properly. It's innovative and fun and encourages a child's independence and responsibility when it comes to managing their own stationery.

The Twin Tip pen is the first double nibbed pen with colour changing ability, allowing writers to switch between four different coloured inks. Each end writes with a choice of two colours so switching between them is quick and simple. The soft grip pen makes it comfy to use. Great for diary writing, kids can easily add some colour to their page using just the one pen.

Tatoo Soft Scissors are comfy to use and beautifully designed with colourful handles and matching colourfully designed blades. They are perfect for paper crafting and are 13cm in length making them good for smaller hands to manage. The Graph Pens are vividly coloured, fine markers for writing and drawing. Their triangular shape makes them easy to hold and control. 20 different colours are available in a variety of sets or individually. The Colour Peps Flex Box is another innovative Maped product. The lidded tube contains 12 coloured pencils, which can be easily accessed by removing the lid and squashing down the flexible, concertina-style tubing to create a handy pencil pot. Once you've finished you can unclip the tube and allow it to go back to its full size and pop on the lid, storing your pencils safely and neatly away. It's a fun design that is quite ingenious. The pencils themselves have a soft lead and an easy to sharpen wood surround, making them nice to use.

These are just a small selection from the extensive Maped range. They also stock lots of stuff for left-handers, which I think is absolutely brilliant. Having lefties in the family, I know the difficulties they have when it comes to using some stationery, so to find fun and colourful left-handed friendly products is great for leftie kids.

See the range on the website at: www.mapedhelix.co.uk/products