Fountain Pens For Kids

[Marcwithac]

My son just turned six and has been asking when he can use some of my fountain pens. My question for this forum is twofold. First, is six too young to start using fountain pens? If not, can anyone recommend a good starter pen for my young Ernest Hemingway to practice his penmanship?

[Runnin_Ute]

Not necessarily. Especially since he has a desire to. A couple of manufacturers have beginner/starter/student pens. Lamy has I think it is called the ABC, Pelikan has the Pelikano, Pelikano Jr., Twist. I am sure there are probably others too. A quick google search for these show them all in the $10-$25 range.

[linearM]

I had the experience of giving a six year old a Noodler's pen. I explained that he needed to be careful and not press too hard etc. Everything was fine then he went off and when he came back the nib was a mangled mess, not sure what he could have done with it. I had replacement nib so not problem. But I decided to wait and put a little tag on another pen that said his name and 8 years old. For the next two years every time he would come he would check to see if 'his' pen was still there. On his 8th birthday I gave it to him. It became something special and I think he has taken care of it.

 

Another thing third grade seems to be when students first start learning cursive, eight would be a good age to make the presentation.

 

I think Runnin_Ute's pen suggestions are a good one.

Edited May 16, 2018 by linearM

[JulieParadise]

6 is not too young. In Germany firstgraders write with fountain pens at that age.

 

Get him a pen with a replaceable nib, e.g. a Lamy abc or a Pelikano. If the pen falls down or if you notice that he needs a finer or broader nib you can react.

 

Congrats to your little one! Writing with a fountain pen is great, esp. when Momma shares all her fun inks!

[WarrenB]

In addition, I wouldn't mind the Stabilo Easybuddy or Jinhao 993 (looks like a Pilot Plumix 'homage') for meself, let alone a child.

 

But I decided to wait and put a little tag on another pen that said his name and 8 years old.

 

What was that second pen - another Noodler's?

[SoulSamurai]

Make sure you only let him near washable inks. Cartridges only of course.

[AAAndrew]

Let me throw in a vote for a Pilot Varsity. Cheap, pretty sturdy, and they don't try out when capped and left for months. And you can get them in colors. My son started with those and liked them.

 

He just started a new school in 6th grade and all students are required to use fountain pens. I bought him a TWSBI Eco-T in bright yellow-green and he loves it.

[Marcwithac]

Thanks to all for the replies. Despite linearM’s experience, I am inclined to give my son a Lamy ABC or Pelikan Jr. now, but make sure he only uses it when supervised. I only write with fountain pens because I find them to be the most enjoyable writing instrument out there, and I want to share that pleasure with my son.

[JulieParadise]

Or, if you are in for more fun, get him a/some Pilot Petit(s). The clips are not that sturdy, but the pens write reliably and do not dry out. Comes in fun colours, too, at a price where you might get 3-5 for 20€/$. My children (and sometimes foster-children) also used these at school (ages 6-11).

 

The Petits (and Platinum Preppies as well) make for great gifts or stocking stuffer, too.

[MomoShinChan]

If it were up to me, I would get him a Pilot Kakuno. You cannot (mostly) go wrong with that pen.

[Brandywine]

The Lamy ABC and the Pelikano are both meant to be used by beginners,
so their nibs are designed to take more pressure than pens for advanced writers.

In Germany many students keep using these pens and do not change to more "grown" designs.

 

The Pelikano will take standard cartridges (their design became the standard),
Lamy cartridges may be more expensive and harder to obtain.

The first pen should better be a cartridges pen- piston fillers or eyedroppers may be messy.

And make shure the ink is washable!

 

Kids should already be able to write before they start writing with a fountain pen.

Learning both at the same time is hard for the kids - and the pens.

[CheapSkate]

Excellent as my son is 6 as well.

Firstly nothing precious so we have:-

 

Jinhao 159

Dollar 717i on order ( less than £3 for a demonstrator piston filler)

A Conway Stewart 150 ( vintage pen with gold nib to fettle and cheap as chips to buy)

Parker gold nibbled aerometric ( needs a clean and fettle)

Water based ink

 

We are going to clean and appropriately fettle the pens.

 

Now for keeping six year old interested:-

 

Hang man

 

 

https://icebreakerideas.com/pen-and-paper-games/

[CheapSkate]

Parker slimfold another vintage small and cheap pen with gold nib

[alexwi]

When I put a fountain pen for the first time in my daughter's hand, she was six. I told her that it writes like a brush and you don't need to make any pressure, just caress the paper with it. She got it right away, so I have no qualms letting her test any of my pens now that she's 10.

 

But when she was 6 I didn't have the tenacity to make her exercise every day, so her hand is like that of any 10 year old in the US. I asked her recently if she would put in the time if I got her a book to learn cursive, and she said that she wouldn't, so that seems to be the end of that.

 

She did ask me a while ago if she could have one of my pens, and I gave her an orange Safari, but seeing that it went mostly unused, I told her that she needs to use it or the ink will dry up, and she told me that I should take it back, so I did.

 

The Safari is a great pen for kids because the section's triangular section ensures a proper grip.

 

alex

[amberleadavis]

Pilot Varsity. It is great. Always works.

Next choice - Pelikano. I love them.

[sandy101]

Pelikan have the Pelikano Jr & Pelikano and Faber Castell have a new grip 2011 range of fountain pens.

 

Both of these have got grips that are designed to help children hold the pen.

 

So, start with one of those.

[Mech-for-i]

If it were up to me, I would get him a Pilot Kakuno. You cannot (mostly) go wrong with that pen.

 

+1 for the KAKÜNO ; but seriously I do not recall there were much of a collection of school / kids pen in my days as a junior and we still learn to write perfectly fine with just a well normal fountain pen. So might be one other way to look at it is to fish around your collection and find a pen that you can part with and likely able to handle abuse by kinds and made it a gift to the little one

[Torrilin]

+1 for the KAKÜNO ; but seriously I do not recall there were much of a collection of school / kids pen in my days as a junior and we still learn to write perfectly fine with just a well normal fountain pen. So might be one other way to look at it is to fish around your collection and find a pen that you can part with and likely able to handle abuse by kinds and made it a gift to the little one

I kinda doubt that there weren’t school pens when you were young unless you were learning to write before the 1930s And even then, I’m pretty sure I’ve seen vintage dip pen ads discussing which nibs were most suitable for children. Parents have always cared about things being cheap enough and sturdy enough to hold up to kids.

 

I’d probably vote for my Kaweco Sport or any of Pilot’s cheapie steel nib pens for a lefty kid. The Pilots have a molded grip, but you can adjust it to not be stabby by turning the nib in the body without it leaking or being damaged. The Sport has a round, non stabby grip. I actually like the Safari grip, but a lot of lefties don’t because it feels stabby to them. If a tool hurts to use it’s not a good idea.

 

I haven’t managed to get my hands on the Pelikan lefty models, but the righty ones don’t seem to adjust so the grip won’t stab a lefty. (Again, I don’t mind, buuuuut)

 

If a triangle grip is helpful to a child, I’d actually suggest using a grip aid on a pencil over a molded fountain pen grip. On a pencil it doesn’t make the tool handed. On a fountain pen it can, and those kinds of subtle barriers do more to cut down on using both hands than anything else. And the more a kid uses both hands for tasks the better it is for their brain development.