Crayon Restrictions?

unaveragejane · January 2014

DS is 19 months old and has recently become fascinated with his crayons. He will ask for them almost daily. I keep them put up until I am ready to supervise him with them. I'm trying to teach him that he is only allowed to color on coloring books and the blank paper I give him, but mostly he wants to carry them around and use them to push buttons on his toys. I don't mind him carrying them around, but I'm worried that a) I'll wind up stepping on them when he leaves them scattered and b) that poking/pushing will sneakily turn into making a mark here or there and then using my walls for a canvas. They're washable crayons, but that only helps so much. My OCD is really going nuts with this. What do you do? Keep the crayons put up for special supervision, or give them free reign?

ETA Sorry for all the typos! I was pecking it out one-handed with DS on my lap trying to help.

jil1210 · January 2014

My DD is 20 months and we also keep crayons and colored pencils out of her reach. This is how we have always done it, for the same reasons as op.

unaveragejane · January 2014

Thanks! This helps me feel less like a b for putting up the crayons!

Zimger · January 2014

I typically keep them in our art drawer. However, I will set them out without him asking for them. This gives him a chance to come to them naturally. He has never once drawn on the wall or anything besides the books/paper/project I put out.

I keep them in the art drawer mostly because I rotate his art supplies and I don't want to pick them up constantly.

JENandJEH · January 2014

DS2 only gets crayons when he's at the table being supervised. DS1 was a completely different child and I would have trusted him with them with no second thoughts. DS2 would turn our house into his own personal canvas if left with crayons unsupervised.

shannm · January 2014

My DD has free reign with washable markers. 90% of the time she keeps them on paper.

melody921 · January 2014

My almost 4-year-old doesn't even have free reign. Crayons are used at the table only.

MommyAtty · January 2014

My 18 month old still likes to try to eat them, so she is nowhere near unsupervised crayon access at this point.

Seriously, what is it with wanting to eat crayons?? We even stopped letting her color at restaurants bc we thought maybe she was getting confused. Now coloring is an on-the-floor activity.

janinekrause · January 2014

At that age, I supervised it. When I didn't she wrote on the walls. At a little over 2, she still can't be trusted

but she knows to sit at the table.

ashiscute · January 2014

MommyAtty said:

My 18 month old still likes to try to eat them, so she is nowhere near unsupervised crayon access at this point. Seriously, what is it with wanting to eat crayons?? We even stopped letting her color at restaurants bc we thought maybe she was getting confused. Now coloring is an on-the-floor activity.

This would be my kids too. I'd worry about them chewing on them if they were carrying them around. I would be less worried about them coloring on the walls. It's going to happen eventually and it comes off pretty easy.

janinekrause · January 2014

Just as an FYI- if they eat them, its really not dangerous at all. They make them that way for a reason - apparently it is a popular thing to eat

APendola · January 2014

I keep them out of her reach because she'll eat them. She does use them supervised sometimes.

MommyAtty · January 2014

janinekrause said:

Just as an FYI- if they eat them, its really not dangerous at all. They make them that way for a reason - apparently it is a popular thing to eat

Yeah, but it's pretty bad when you have to alert everyone that her poop may be a bit rainbow-colored! Lol. I always think "and the prize for Mother of the Year goes to.... Um, not me!" Our crayon requirements are (1) nontoxic, and (2) washable. And we painted our walls with washable paint, too.

janinekrause · January 2014

haha. Yes, we have had our walls painted once. She did learn from it and hasn't done it again actually...

MommyAtty · January 2014

Lol. I actually meant the grown ups. I'm too terrified to let her at paint! We have paint on our walls that's supposed to be super-rugged and hold up to scrubbing off crayon and some marker. And chocolate. And grapes. Haven't had to test it yet.

unaveragejane · January 2014

I have a friend with a 2.5 year old. When we were over there the other day, I saw he had free access to paints and chalk on his easel, and all I could think was how brave my friend must be! Granted, they are not home that much since she works FT and he goes to DC, but it still was a marvel to me.

this decaf life · February 2014

I only let DD have crayons at her little Ikea table that has coloring paper on it. If she gets up I take the crayon and say "crayons stay at the table." I'm hoping that she'll learn quickly that she can only use them in one place so when she's older and more interested in coloring it won't be too big a battle.

Want a personalized experience?

Crayon Restrictions?

Re: Crayon Restrictions?

Choose Another Board

Search Boards