Skin-Tone Colored Pencils for Kids: Why They Matter and How to Use Them

Skin-tone colored pencils are sets of browns, tans, creams, peaches and deep umbers chosen so children can color people the way people really look, including themselves and their families. A standard set often has one peach labeled for skin, which leaves most children without a color that matches them. Adding a skin-tone set alongside a regular one fixes that, and the same warm shades turn out to be useful for fur, wood, sand and bread too.

Below: why it matters, how to choose, how to layer the colors for faces and hands, and a few ways to use the set beyond people.

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Why it matters

When children draw people, they often want to draw themselves, their friends and their families. If the box only has one peach pencil, many of them simply can't find their own color, and some quietly decide they're "coloring it wrong". A range of skin tones says, without a word, that every child's color is a normal color to reach for.

It also helps children notice: skin isn't one flat color. There's a lighter shade where light falls and a deeper one at the edges, and seeing that is the same skill as noticing the details in any picture.

How to choose a skin-tone set

• Range: look for very light creams through to very deep browns, with warm (golden, reddish) and cool (pinkish, olive) shades in between.
• Named colors: sets where each pencil has a name help children talk about and choose colors.
• Soft leads: softer pencils layer more easily, which matters most for skin.
• A companion set: a skin-tone set covers people, fur and wood, but not skies or grass, so keep a standard set too.

How to layer skin tones for faces and hands

1. Choose a base: pick the closest light-to-mid shade and color the whole face or hand lightly.
2. Add a mid tone: with a slightly deeper shade, color gently around the edges: along the jaw, under the nose, between fingers.
3. Add warmth: a touch of a warm pink or red-brown on the cheeks and nose tip.
4. Keep the light: leave the forehead, nose bridge and cheekbones in the lighter base.
5. Blend: go over everything lightly with the base color to soften the edges.

Two or three shades layered this way look more natural than any single pencil. The same steps work for every skin tone, from the palest to the deepest. For more on layering and fades, see how to blend with crayons, which works the same way with pencils.

Matching game: find your color

A simple activity children of 6 to 12 enjoy: hold each pencil next to the back of a hand and find the closest match. Then do the same for a grown-up, a friend, a sibling. Most people find they need two pencils, a lighter and a deeper one. It's a gentle way to see that everyone's color is a mix, and that the "right" color is whichever one the child chooses.

Beyond people: fur, wood, sand and bread

A skin-tone set is one of the most useful pencil sets in the box for animals and scenes:

Our guide to coloring fur, wood, water and stone shows the strokes that go with these colors.

These are the pencil picks from our Creative Supplies shelves for this, with an honest note on who each suits:

A skin-tone set and an everyday set to go with it

Pick	Best for	Good to know	Buy
Skin tones, fur and woodCrayola Colors of the World Colored Pencils, 24 Count	Real people can look like real people	Not a full palette on its own: no blues or greens	$5.16 on Amazon.comSave 14% Price as of Oct 28, 6:55 PM UTC Details Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon.com at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product. Check price on AmazonView on Amazon Paid link
The everyday set that covers everything elseCrayola Colored Pencils, 36 Count	36 shades, including useful in-betweens	Needs a sharpener eventually	$6.57 on Amazon.com Price as of Oct 28, 6:55 PM UTC Details Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon.com at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product. Check price on AmazonView on Amazon Paid link

Amazon shows the current price and delivery. Tap any name for our full write-up, including what it’s not good for.

A note for grown-ups

Children choose colors for all sorts of reasons. A child may color a person green, purple or gold, and that's fine. The point of a skin-tone set isn't to make anyone use realistic colors; it's to make sure that every child who wants to color someone as they really are can find the colors to do it.

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The one thing to remember

A box of colors should have a color for every child. A skin-tone set next to the everyday pencils makes sure it does, and gives you the best browns in the house for fur, wood and bread at the same time.