ADVICE First FP for a first grader

[fljarg]

My son is starting first grade this year an I have to buy him a FP, actually two, they will be their first FP!.

 

Help me out, I think they have to be, cheap, reliable, and use standard cartridges.

 

So far I got him a Faber Castell that cost me like 3 dollars and also I have an old Parker that I used in my school days (like 30 years ago!!!!!)

 

Should I invest on a better one? he is only 5 year old.

 

Thanks a lot!!!!

 

[Fountainbass]

I think a Pelikan Pelikano is a good choice for kids. I bought a pink one for my (then) 3-year-old daughter, and she gets a kick out of using it. I was surprised at how smoothly it writes! It'll take a cartridge or a converter. They run somewhere around $20, I think.

 

Good luck!

[nscampos]

Maybe one of the Pelikan school pens: Pelikano or Future? You can also buy a box of 10 Hero 616 on e-bay for 15$USD or something like that, but these do not use cartridges.

Edited February 18, 2009 by nscampos

[Sailor Kenshin]

If the boy's only five, why buy a pen that costs even $15? Plenty of time for that later.

 

For now, I suggest a Pilot Varsity or Petit 1. The Varsity's about three dollars and the Petit (which can be refilled) about five. A kid would probably like the translucent finish on the Petit, and they come in all sorts of colors. I use mine practically every day.

[gyasko]

If the boy's only five, why buy a pen that costs even $15? Plenty of time for that later.

 

For now, I suggest a Pilot Varsity or Petit 1. The Varsity's about three dollars and the Petit (which can be refilled) about five. A kid would probably like the translucent finish on the Petit, and they come in all sorts of colors. I use mine practically every day.

 

Speaking from experience, kids destroy Varsities in minutes. Once they learn how to write with a fountain pen, they're perfectly fine, but until then, you need something with a stronger nib.

[Ernst Bitterman]

Pelikano (Junior) or a Lamy ABC are probably good modern starting points, if you're intent on buying new-- they're all designed to take a beating from small people. If you're willing to see the old Parker in the hazard, then all you have to buy is cartridges. I'm trying to decide whether my son gets one of the German items, or one of the Sheaffers of the sort I started on-- but as he's not yet a year old, there is some pondering time yet available.

[Sailor Kenshin]

If the boy's only five, why buy a pen that costs even $15? Plenty of time for that later.

 

For now, I suggest a Pilot Varsity or Petit 1. The Varsity's about three dollars and the Petit (which can be refilled) about five. A kid would probably like the translucent finish on the Petit, and they come in all sorts of colors. I use mine practically every day.

 

Speaking from experience, kids destroy Varsities in minutes. Once they learn how to write with a fountain pen, they're perfectly fine, but until then, you need something with a stronger nib.

 

Really? Varsity nibs are that fragile?

 

I'm wondering whether a kid that young SHOULD have a fountain pen. When did they introduce them to us in school? I believe it was about the sixth grade...?

 

[mr T.]

The Pelikano/Pelikano Junior and the Lamy ABC are good pens. Other options are the Staedtler learners fountain pen, the Schneider Base, the Schneider Base Kid, the Bic For School, the Bic Easy Clic, the Bic Xpen or the Bruynzeel Triple Grip

[sdcurnow]

I'd go with the Lamy ABC. That's what they are built for.

[kiavonne]

 

I bought a Pelikano Jr for my 3-year-old niece. She tried it out while we were at the pen store. All I had to say was "shiny side up," and she had no problems at all with the pen (though it seemed to dwarf her tiny hands). Even the sales clerk was impressed. The Pelikano Jr only cost me $12 at Paradise Pens. I gave into the urge and bought one for myself, too...

Edited February 18, 2009 by kiavonne

[Shangas]

Basic rules for buying a kid a fountain pen:

 

1. Make it something that's smooth, easy to hold and tough. If it breaks or leaks the moment he uses it, he'll never touch it again.

2. Make it something CHEAP. Doubtless, he'll lose within the first week, the first month, if you're lucky. If he still has it at the end of the year, your son's guardian-angel must be working overtime.

3. Cheap, disposable $10-for-a-pack-of-five fountain pens are best, but if you could also buy him a simple cartridge or cartridge-converter fountain pen, from Parker or Sheaffer. This was how my father started me out.

 

I would personally suggest a Sheaffer school pen. I used these as a child, and they are IDIOTPROOF. They're light, easy to hold and you'd have to smash your foot down to really break the nib. They're simple cartridge-pens with ink-windows, so your son/daughter can have a lot of fun writing and watching the ink go down at the same time. They're out-of-production, unfortunately, but you CAN buy them on eBay. Keep an eye out - they show up pretty frequently. They take standard Sheaffer cartridges and these pens last forever.

[bomber60015]

Le Pen, by Marvy . . . . .

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/in...showtopic=17219

 

 

[Sailor Kenshin]

They still make those? I used to have a couple!

[Tsujigiri]

Even if he is responsible and able to avoid losing a fountain pen, you can't lecture every other kid on the playground about what a fountain pen is. I'm guessing that a unique writing instrument like a fountain pen would be soon stolen or broken by overeager fellow students.

Something tells me that what a first-grader would most like would be a vintage pen with a lever. That way, it can serve the dual-purpose of writing and being a squirt gun. I don't recommend that you make his dreams come true with a pen like that, though...

[donwinn]

For a first fountain pen for a first grader, try this pen would be a good choice. i gave one to each of my grandchildren, when they were 9, 8, and 6, and they did great with it.

 

Donnie

[Spy Car]

You and I are on the same wave length. In addition to the responses in this thread you may be interested to see the answers in a very similar thread I started recently.

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/in...mp;#entry921009

 

Maybe fountain pens are going to make a comeback with the 5 and under set?!

 

My 4.5 year-old has been loving his fountain pen. Good luck finding a pen for your boy!

 

Bill

[Ernst Bitterman]

I'm guessing that a unique writing instrument like a fountain pen would be soon stolen or broken by overeager fellow students.

 

I know the world has changed since I was a lad {coughs dryly, leans onto gnarled walking stick, treads on end of beard} but having taken up a fountain pen at age 8 on my own impluse, I don't recall any school-mates even commenting on it until well into high school. The adult world isn't the only place where indifference to FPs lives.

[Hilmar]

Get him a Lamy Safari. They come in cool colors and can most likely survive many falls from a desk.