There's a new arrival in store this week, and she's about three feet tall, bright pink, and very pleased with herself. Peppa Pig has landed at 4 Callender Street, bringing with her a proper little art range made by Staedtler — and the timing isn't coincidental. Peppa Pig's Big Family Show opens at the Grand Opera House at the end of the month, and we wanted to give Belfast families something a bit more memorable than a fridge magnet for the day out.
A name we trust for tiny hands
I'll be honest — when a licensed character lands on a product, my first instinct is to look carefully at who's actually making it. Cartoon branding can paper over a lot of cheap nonsense. So I was pleased to see this collaboration is with Staedtler, who've been making writing and colouring tools in Nuremberg since 1835.
The Noris Junior line is their range specifically engineered for very small children — thicker grips, durable barrels, non-toxic pigments, and ergonomic shapes designed to suit the way little hands actually hold things rather than how we imagine they should. The four words on the packaging — Play, Easy, Aware, Safe — sound like marketing, but they're a fair summary of what's different about the range compared with the supermarket stuff.
You can tell within ten seconds of handing a Noris Junior crayon to a two-year-old. They don't snap. The colour lays down properly on the first pass instead of leaving a feeble waxy ghost. And they survive being dropped, sat on, and absent-mindedly chewed — the four things every child's crayon will be subjected to before lunch.
What's in the range
We've stocked the full collection that came over, and it's a sensible spread:
- Jumbo wax crayons in 6 and 12-piece boxes — the classic chunky shape, easy to grip, won't roll off the table
- Coloured pencils with the Peppa Pig print barrel — pre-sharpened and ready to go
- Child-safe scissors with rounded blades and easy-grip handles. These are properly made — not the floppy plastic kind that frustrate more than they cut
- Watercolour paint sets with six pans and a little spatula brush — the spatula is a nice touch for tiny hands still learning the wrist motion
- Sharpeners built for the thicker junior barrels
Ages 2+ across the range. Properly tested, properly certified.
Pop in and have a go
There's a demo table set up beside the stand — a little Peppa-themed easel with stools where children can sit down and try the range before you buy. We had a wee one in earlier this week who produced what may well be the finest Daddy Pig portrait Callender Street has ever seen. The drawing's still on display if you'd like to come and admire it.
This is what I always recommend for first art supplies: let the child pick something up, scribble for thirty seconds, and you'll know whether the materials suit them or not. Catalogue photos and packaging tell you very little about how a crayon actually feels in a three-year-old's fist.
A good companion to the Big Family Show
Peppa Pig's Big Family Show runs at the Grand Opera House from the end of the month. If you're heading along — and if you have a small Peppa devotee in the household, you almost certainly are — a colouring set tucked into the bag makes for a nice quiet activity on the walk in, during the interval, or on the way home afterwards. The 6-piece wax crayon boxes are pocket-sized and surprisingly hard to lose.
We're a five-minute walk from the Opera House, so if you're making a day of it, drop in beforehand. The full Peppa stand is on the main shop floor, and the demo table is open for as long as the range lasts.
bradburyART — 4 Callender Street, Belfast. Independent art supplies and gallery, trading since 1982.
