Stabilo EASYoriginal Right and Left-Handed Pens Review

Reviewed by Louise Totton

Kitting your kids out for their return to school in September isn’t just about the uniform, the new school shoes and the bigger things – it’s also important to get the little bits right too. My youngest is making the move from infants to juniors this September, and it’s a fact that there is a significant increase in what is expected of them from Key Stage 2 onwards. They are expected to be far more independent, the play-based learning is almost gone, and there is a significant ramp-up in terms of the sheer amount of writing that they are expected to do.

My eldest daughter struggled with this transition; she’s a bright girl, and has always had superb reasoning and verbal skills, but the challenge of getting all of these thoughts committed to paper has always been a bit of a struggle. We later found out that she is mildly dyslexic – not enough that she is regarded as having special educational needs, but enough that she can find some aspects of school more difficult than her peers. She struggled with pen-hold fatigue, and this combined with the dyslexia has always meant that her writing can look untidy, and she can give up part way through a piece of work.

We tried all manner of special pen grips with her, but nothing seemed to work – they would slide down the barrel of the pen or sometimes just prove too distracting for her and the teachers would comment that she would sit and fiddle with them.

I have recently been made aware of the EASYoriginal pens from Stabilo, and given as I am about to start kitting out the kids’ pencil cases for their return to school, I thought I’d give them a go. The EASYoriginal are a very innovative concept – they are specially shaped to encourage the correct pen grip and therefore reduce the hand fatigue that is often associated with either a poor pen-hold, or with kids who are not used to having to complete sustained pieces of writing.

Because they are designed to harness a correct and very specific pen grip, via the ergonomic shape of the pen, the EASYoriginal is sold in two versions – a right-handed version and a left-handed version! They are also available in a range of barrel colours, so there will always be something to appeal to your child – and for once, the left-handed one isn’t an afterthought or additional item – it is available in all of the lovely bright colours that the right-handed pen is available in!

We were sent a pink left-handed pen (RRP: £6.70) and a green right-handed pen (RRP: £6.70) to try out. The packaging clearly marks which version is which, so if you are shopping, you can see at a glance which one you are buying. Both of my girls are right-handed, so I tried them out with the green one, and they both naturally held the pen correctly, even though just moments earlier, they had been holding a normal biro in a less than ideal way! My dad is the only left-handed person I know, so I passed the pink one on to him and he was really impressed by it! He has spent his whole life struggling with scissors and tin-openers that are designed for right-handers, so he was over the moon and very impressed with his new pink pen! Stabilo have a range of items for left-handed people.

Obviously, the kids haven’t been able to use their pen for any proper, sustained writing as yet, but whenever either of them go to pick up a pen, they are choosing this one, so it’s clearly comfortable for them to hold and write with, which I think speaks volumes!

We have also been trying out a lovely set of 8 x 0.7mm coloured fineliner pens, which my eldest daughter has snaffled for her special colouring book! These come in a plastic resealable pouch, and contain fineliners in black, blue, purple, green, light green, turquoise, pink and red. They are ideal for the detailed work in her colouring book, and she has also been really enjoying doodling with them over the weekend. They are the same nib size as a normal writing pen, so I am hopeful that when she goes back to school, she will use the different colours to help her organise her thoughts on a page in the way that her teachers have shown her to do, to help her keep her work coherent and make sense.

We are really pleased with both of these items – as you would expect from a company like Stabilo, they are good quality, comfortable to hold, smooth to write with and I absolutely think they are built to last.

Rating: 5/5

For more information or to buy online visit www.stabilo.com.