Where do you let your little ones color? Less mess...?

Question

My son is only 21 months old so his version of coloring is like conducting a chorus... hands and colors all over the place.

Where can I let him color without such a big mess? He misses the paper more than he hits it... Dining room table :(, white carpet on most of the floors (dumb previous owner decision), light blue and white vinyl floor? He doesn't use a high chair anymore... only a booster seat...

Maybe crayon comes off vinyl floor easily... I haven't tried it yet...

Any other ideas?

Thanks!

Answer 1

I commend you for wanting to encourage his creativity.  Kids love to make things and it boosts their intellectual development as well.

Crayon does come off vinyl flooring with a little elbow grease.  You may also want to try an old shower curtain.  When my daughter was a toddler, my husband built her a special table just her size for her art endeavors.  She also had a bin of art supplies including water colors, crayons, finger paint, glue-sticks, construction paper, etc.  For the messy things, I would spread an old shower curtain beneath her table area and let her have at it.  I also smocked her in one of my husband's old shirts to help keep the art media off her clothing.  

You can get a child sized table at Target, WalMart, Costco, etc.

Answer 2

With four kids that were toddlers at the same time this is what mom did.......She went to the stor and bought a painters drop cloth and used painters tape to tape it where she wanted it. Then she bought big rolls of paper and also taped it to the walls. The four of us kids would line up and make "Murals" on the wall. I think it really helped sine my 18year old brother now draws pictures all the time and when he was 13 or 14 mom let him draw a real mural on his bedroom wall. People in the family now ask him to draw pictures of their friends and family and even sells some of them! Let them be free and have fun.

Answer 3

well i bought a little wooden table and chair set at walmart for like 60.00 dollars they have cheaper ones that fold for like 25.00 and we do all her arts and crafts on that table and we have been using it since she was 14 months old and she will be 3 in september and she knows that is hte only place for markers and things cause they come off easy on her table

but her bedroom walls are her art work to as i just had surgery and she was playing in there and she snuck a maker past my husband and wrote on the walls floors the tv v-smile and the net thing on her bed so she dont' fall off and on spair bed she drawed our stick family on the sheets but taht was cute but i would get a small table for his own and he will probally use it

Answer 4

You have a few options

one they have those markers that only show up on the special paper. Expensive though but i know people who do it.

Two  Yes it comes up off of vinyl with some work

Three  One of those high chair splat mats then the paper so even if he misses it is on plastic

Finally what we do we got  kid size easel and some big paper that we clip on she colors  while standing away from the wall

Answer 5

Put old news papers on the table and let him colour over those. They will protect the table and you can recycle them after. Another option is the vinyl-- it should clean fairly well, but the newspaper is less work.

Answer 6

take him outside with chalk, or with crayon and paper. outside you wont have to worry about staining furniture or carpets. otherwise, magic eraser works great on that stuff. something else that my aunt did was we painted the kids room walls, the lower half, with chalkboard paint. it wasnt hard or expensive. then the kids could color on the walls.

Answer 7

The vinyl floor be a good idea... easier than carpet. If he was a bit older than maybe outside?

Maybe get some really big, cheap paper... Like the rolls from the factorys.... Or they have that special paper with the special markers that only draw on the paper.

Answer 8

This is what I did--I got those washable crayons (you can find them just about anywhere) and I go fetch a newspaper that I already read.  I then tape the newspaper to the kitchen table, and let my son have at it!  I don't have to worry about him coloring off of the table, and the paper stays put too :)

Hope this helps!

Answer 9

I have this problem with my daughter who is a drawing freak. I got her these markers called wonder markers and they come with various different books to colour in and the markers will only leave a mark on that paper. Its great because there is no mess and you do not have to worry about him chewing on crayons or anything.

Very smart and Mya draws every day now with no mess!

Answer 10

go buy a roll of butcher paper and roll it out either on the table or the floor.....Mr Clean Magic Eraser does wonders for removing crayon....and the Crayola Color Magic markers and paint are WONDERFUL!!!!

Answer 11

You have some great responses so far :) here is my two cents.

A vinyl floor can be easier to clean---but it sounds like a small table-chair might help him because the writing surface will be at the proper height for him.

Big fabric stores sell vinyl table covers that are clear and will help protect the table. Unlike a vinyl tablecloth the cover has no texture so it won't make bumps where your artist doesn't want bumps.

Kid stores also sell mats to go underneath chairs in case of spills. I know someone who had a similar carpet issue in her dining room of a new house and she put the mat under where her child sat to eat/color.

If you get really big paper it helps alot---like the butcher paper someone else described. I would tape a HUGE piece of paper to my tablecloth and put color pages on it and then if they missed it was okay. This is also VERY helpful with painting.

If you want to have him paint in the room with the vinyl floor, put the extra paper on the table and use washable paint.

Crayola makes a gel paint that doesn't get all over the place and drip http://www.crayolastore.com/product_deta...

The gel is much easier to deal with than water colors which wind up running every where. They also make some other washable paints that are pretty good.

IF you get paint or marker on the floor, wipe it up asap. The floor in my first house was this awesome armstrong floor and we spilled on it all the time and it cleaned up easily but my new floor is very pale and if a color sits on it too long it starts to stain---the new floor is a much cheaper vinyl. So the kind of vinyl matters. When in doubt, a "magic eraser" cleaner will probably get it up.

Chocolate pudding (or vanilla) can be great for finger painting. If you have pets it can be challenging to find a place to let it dry LOL.

WalMart has HUGE coloring books of dinosaurs and disney characters---they are at least a couple of feet wide and they might be of interest to your son...

BTW Make sure you use the big thick washable crayons designed for his size---makes it easier for you and him.

Outside chalk is another good idea and if you redecorate a room for him without white carpet, look into chalkboard paint. This is paint you put on a wall that lets you use chalk on the wall and erase it. My friend did this in one room of her house on the bottom half of the wall and it looked cool and the kids had fun writing/drawing on it and erasing it.

I think you can use this paint on things other than walls---like a refrigerator or door, but you should doublecheck that.

Crayola also makes crayons and paints for the tub....

I think it is awesome that your son likes to color so much and has such fun doing it! Make sure you get photos of him at work---this time goes by so fast.

PS Put a few spoonfulls of poster paint in a HEAVY duty zipper freezer bag, get all the air out and zip it shut. then put a thin piece of heavy duty tape over the opening for extra safety. Lay the bag flat on the table and he can draw in the paint with his finger tips and then "erase" it by smoothing the bag. (Don't use a lot of paint or he won't be able to make this work.) A couple of paint bags and a cookie sheet and he can draw in the paint while in his car seat if you're driving for a while. A cookie sheet with a lip can also double as a place to hold a coloring book so he can color on the go. Put small magnets on big crayons and he is less likely to lose them.