Artistic misadventures of a 2 year old!

A

AmyH

Registered User
This morning my wonderfully artistic daughter decided that she didn't want to wait for some paper to colour a rainbow. While I was getting some for her, she saw a huge canvas (my living room wall!) and decided that would be the best place to draw!
There is now crayon all over the wall and I am struggling to take it off, without the paint coming off too.
Anybody got any tips?
Also, where would I buy paint in hong kong to re-paint the wall if I can't remove the crayon?
 
paint is available all over the place. but before you go for it...google crayon removal.

i've found that wall paint in hk is cheap. just a little bit of water and it all comes off! so, when we repainted, i bought the more expensive paint so that it doesn't come off with the wipe of a wet cloth.
 
The paint that was used in this apartment was definitely the cheap one! google is telling me to try a hair dryer and some dish washing liquid so I will give that a go and see how we get on! will also give tooth paste a go!
Carang, when you say paint is available all over the place, are there any major DIY stores here? There used to be a B and Q in megabox but as far as I know that closed down. Any similar stores?
 
I would do something a bit unorthodox :
Leave it alone and make it her wall. She is going to do it anyway so resist the urge to fix it and let her paint the place to her hearts content. Make sure she knows that is the only wall she should do it with...

When time comes to move out, you can then fix it up.
 
howardcoombs said:
I meant to say : She is going to do it again anyway, because thats what kids do...
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But leaving it there would seem to imply to the kid that it is okay to do it again and letting her mark one wall but not others could be confusing and just encourage more marked walls, especially if the child is quite young. I would (and have) dealt with this problem by cleaning it and closely supervising kid with crayons/ markers/ paint and saying "no" anytime she goes near the wall (or any other unapproved for decoration surface) with art materials. She pretty much knows now that its not okay.
 
In Japan Home or homeware shops, they sell this white sponge that takes off everything gently. It works like a very very fine buffing sponge that you use to polish/shine your fingernails. You just slice off a bit of the sponge, wet it then gently rub it on the wall. Sorry I don't have the name as it is in Japanese but it is widely sold there. I swear by it & I use it all the time when an odd marker or scratch leave a mark our walls.
 
Newbie_hk said:
In Japan Home or homeware shops, they sell this white sponge that takes off everything gently. It works like a very very fine buffing sponge that you use to polish/shine your fingernails. You just slice off a bit of the sponge, wet it then gently rub it on the wall. Sorry I don't have the name as it is in Japanese but it is widely sold there. I swear by it & I use it all the time when an odd marker or scratch leave a mark our walls.
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This sounds like another version of the Magic Eraser that mentioned as it works the same way - so it may be more widely available in HK than I thought, which is good to know.
 
howardcoombs said:
I would do something a bit unorthodox :
Leave it alone and make it her wall. She is going to do it anyway so resist the urge to fix it and let her paint the place to her hearts content. Make sure she knows that is the only wall she should do it with...

When time comes to move out, you can then fix it up.
Click to expand...

I think that if it was in her bedroom, I wouldn't be too bothered by it but it is all over the main wall in the living room! Will have to take a shopping trip on the weekend to buy her an art easel instead!
 
You can buy the same kind of thing as Mr Clean from a living plaza shop (used to be called Jusco $10 shop but inflation means that it is now a $12 shop) - it's called a melamine sponge. Exactly the same as Mr Clean but probably much cheaper since it doesn't come from the US.

(edited to add) Sorry - I posted before reading page 2 - what I'm talking about is the same thing as Newbie_HK - they are brilliant for that kind of thing!!
 
I've always let my daughter draw on the mirror on my closet door with "bath crayons," the one you can draw on bathtub and tiles then wipe off with damp sponge/towel. They are more washable than crayola.
 
Thanks a million for all the helpful advice from everybody.

Toothpaste didn't work for the crayon but I will reember it if she gets near a pen! The hairdryer worked to an extent but due to the very cheap paint on the walls. it is still coming off when I wash it at all so it looks like we will be spending the weekend shopping for an art easel and wall paint!
 
Hi I like to use this detergent call CIF. It helped me to clean any mark or crayons mark on my cupboards... Not so sure abt wall.. U can try..
 
howard - are you serious? by giving her that wall you are saying it's ok to draw on walls. if my 2 yr old drew on the wall she would be in big trouble! Do you really let your kids draw on the walls at home?
 
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"I would do something a bit unorthodox :
Leave it alone and make it her wall. She is going to do it anyway so resist the urge to fix it and let her paint the place to her hearts content. Make sure she knows that is the only wall she should do it with...

When time comes to move out, you can then fix it up." - Howard Coombes

Are you serious??? So as a reward for naughty behaviour, the child gets a whole wall in the family room to scribble on, and the parents get a spoiled living room?

And I don't think it's inevitable that walls will get drawn on. I have a 6 yr old, a 4 yr old and a 1 yr old - none of whom have ever even attempted to draw on a wall. Crayons and paper are freely available, and the youngest is supervised at all times.

As for the OP's original query, sounds like you'll have to paint over that wall. And buy Crayola Washable crayons just in case there's a next time! ;-) (Though with the poor quality paint on the walls - so common in HK, unfortunately - the paint will probably wash off too.)
 
Honkyblues said:
And I don't think it's inevitable that walls will get drawn on. I have a 6 yr old, a 4 yr old and a 1 yr old - none of whom have ever even attempted to draw on a wall. Crayons and paper are freely available, and the youngest is supervised at all times.
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I was thinking the same thing. My son is 4 1/2 and has never drawn on the walls or on furniture. He's known from an early age that that's absolutely not allowed. I don't want it to be okay in our house and then have him trying out the same thing at other peoples' houses. However, there is a really cool type of paint which you can paint your wall with now that turns it into a blackboard! My friend who does pre-schooling at home in the States did this in their house. So, that might be fun--paint a section of wall with that type of paint and let her use chalk--but then again, my friend's house had an actual room that was designated as a classroom and that was their actual chalkboard so it's a bit different than doing the same thing in the living room. Maybe get a large piece of whiteboard material and tack it up?
 
My son (7) never, ever did it so it was a bit of a shock! the crayons are crayola washable but still didn't come off!

I had that blackboard paint which we used in our garden for my son (i painted some of the back wall of the garden with it and he loved drawing with chalk on there!)
 
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