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Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Reducing the marker mess - tie dyed diaper wipes

One of Sweetpea's favorite things to do lately is color with markers. With her washable crayons, we sit at the dining room table, and if she runs a crayon off the paper it wipes up easily. If she tries to write on herself with a crayon it usually just leaves a slight mark if any at all... With the markers it's a whole different story. We've set up the following strategy - markers are only available in the highchair, with a smock on.

Once the coloring fest is over, we take a diaper wipe or two and clean up the collateral damage - usually this includes the highchair tray, sometimes the chair back, and almost always Sweetpea's arms. She loves seeing the colors transfer onto the baby wipe, and we end up with a tie dyed looking wipe when we're done, like the one pictured above. We then let them dry and use them as blankets for some of her smaller dolls. Easy cleanup and future fun!
Do you have any tricks for reducing art related mess? I'd love to hear them!

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9 comments:

Tiffany said...

Oh my! I had one that would stick a marker in each ear and twirl!

Please stop by my blog, Eat at Home and leave a comment today. Each comment is worth $1 for the Global Food Crisis fund and all you have to do is comment. SITS girls are great at that!

Mel said...

I will admit art messes make me crazy!!! Although the diaper wipe is awesome.

Marva said...

that is a cool idea! WE don't do markers at home.....;) 3 year old twin boys + markers + diaster! Just kidding!

How are you feeling? Have a Wonderful Wednesday! Blessings!

Anonymous said...

The other day my 1 1/2 year old climbed up retrieved a permanent marker off the kitchen counter. Before I knew it, she had drawn all over my almost white kitchen counters and cabinets.

I freaked out. My first thought was, "is there room in the budget to redo the kitchen." Since the answer was no, I decided to see if any of it would come off.

Armed with Softscrub and a kitchen sponge, I rubbed every bit of that marker right off in a matter of minutes. I couldn't believe that it actually came off so easily. Boy was I glad it did though.

Needless to say, the markers are now safely tucked away.

HeatherPride said...

I love the picture!!! I thought Logan was the only kid who loved drawing marker moustaches on himself!!!

carrhop said...

I'm so impressed! My main art mess tip is to wring my hands and grit my teeth...but we still do a lot of crafts, even if I find glitter in all kinds of odd places for months afterward...

Blessings~!

Andrea said...

Thanks for stopping by my blog today! I have to admit, when we have an art mess here I just sigh and then grab a diaper wipe...so you already know my secret!

Lisa @ Crazy Adventures in Parenting said...

haha, how cute! Look at her putting on her makeup like momma ;)

How are you feeling?

Mary | Deep South Dish said...

Hi Steph! I'm just popping over from SITS to say hello. I've been trying to make a practice of visiting whoever posts right above me on the roll call and today that was you! That way I get around to visiting some different types of blogs.

That's a neat idea to turn them into doll blankets!

Happy early b'day to your precious daughter. You have lots of work ahead of you till then I'll bet!!

Have a great day!
Mary