Need a way to distract your child for 15 minutes? Let them color on your table with marker! Yes, you heard me right! If you have a glass or tile-topped table, that is! And if the markers are dry erase.
I gave my three year-old a couple of dry erase markers and an eraser (naturally! erasing is his favorite part) and he happily scribbled on our patio table for quite awhile. Naturally, I accompanied this activity with an explanation of “only with these markers, and only on this table.” You will use your best judgment of whether or not your child is ready for this activity or not! I know you don’t want permanent marker all over your furniture.
Dry erase marker wipes easily off glass and tile (not sure about grout, though, so if you have a tile table, test it out before you give your child free reign).
Heather Mann is a regular contributor at Make and Takes. She’s is the mother of two boys under age 3, and another boy on the way. She publishes Dollar Store Crafts, a daily blog devoted to hip crafting at dollar store prices, CROQ Zine, a print magazine devoted to hip crafting, and also CraftFail, a community blog that encourages crafters to share their not-so-successful craft attempts.
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This is a great idea that I use all the time. I actually have a cup of dry erase markers on my tile counter and, when the phone rings and I need to take a message, I just use the tile. Never have to look for a pen and paper.
Also, if your child DOES get loose with non-dry erase markers on a surface like this, just scribble over it with a dry erase marker and it will wipe right up! It works like a miracle; I promise! Try it!
Sometimes, on dry erase boards, I’ll want to write something that I don’t want erased so easily and I’ll use permanent pen. When I’m done, just color over it with a dry erase marker and wipe clean!
You can also use a white board marker on mirrors. I love to leave love notes or birthday wishes for my family members on the bathroom mirror so they’ll see them when they wake up.
Fabulous idea! We do things like this to practice spelling words. It’s much more fun that writing with a pencil on paper.
My girls LOVE to do this ALTHOUGH be careful, the carpet cleaner man was out here just for that because they went for the carpet ;)