2 year old colors on EVERYTHING!

Haley - posted on 05/20/2010

My daughter did this only once. I went out and bought big pieces of tag board, and (after cleaning) I taped them up on her favorite place in her room to color. I explained to her that she had to color on the paper because then we got to keep them. But on the walls, they were going to keep getting taken away. The first few days I kept the crayons where she could see them out in the living room, but not reach. So she would ask me to color with her. Once as I saw her go off the paper and say "ops" I praised for awhile about how she was staying on the paper. After the first week or so we would still color together sometimes, but she got her crayons back. I replace the tag board every once in awhile when I need to. But now I get to see her go from all scribbles to little shapes. It's a great way to practice shapes, btw. She hasn't colored on anything else since. (Tag Board is also super cheap! Lol) I've since thought about painting one of her walls with the new special "chalk board paint". It comes in white or black I think. Anything you paint with it gets the texture of a chalk board. Chalk actually wipes right off of it.

Dani - posted on 05/19/2010

I call my 2 year old, Paxton, "destructor". If I don't watch her like a hawk, she manages to not only write, draw, color, and paint on everything, but she need only get near enough to anything, and it is destroyed. Thus the reason the decor of my house looks like shabby chic, without the chic. I have decided there is no way I can purchase new furniture and decor to redecorate until she leaves for college...

Nici - posted on 05/06/2010

haha i knew dat probs,. but he doesnt do it anymore.. he knews that if he wannt paint a picture.. he must sit down athis table n can paint n stuff it was hard but ya now he knows it

Candace - posted on 05/05/2010

This is an important opportunity to teach self discipline and consequences. When my first did it I washed the walls the first time letting her know that it was not appropriate to colour on walls or furniture, but I let her know that the next time she would be responsible to clean her own mess. Next time she cleaned it (not well, I recleaned after she was not in the room) but she never did it again, and even taught her siblings that it was not a good thing to do or they will have to clean their own messes! She got the cleaner (there is stuff called Goo Gone made from orange oil, non-toxic, that works) and helped her sister clean up without telling me (I saw them do it), and her sister never did it again either! My son never did it (that I know of).

Zoey - posted on 04/22/2010

I got my son the color wonder markers by crayola...i love them...there are no marks anywhere except the special paper. crayons are only used with supervision...we've had our fair share of artwork on the walls (including my car)

Natasha - posted on 04/16/2010

Ha hedve horrible days with all my art markers well the gold and silver etc...she snuck into my office and well wanted to work...So I went to the hardware store got a 80 x 80 cm maconite board drilled holes in each corner painted it with chalkboard paint in the center....decorated the edges...with fun pics...vanished over the pics! I placed it on her wall and told her that is her creative space and I only give chalk...if she wonders over the board onto the wall the chalk is wiped away with the cloth...prob solved! She can be left alone and I know she is going wild in her room...and if she might go over no train smash....
I have made about 30 board already all my friends asked me to make one for there kids...and really it works...even get your child to chose the pics.

I do agree on the bounderies so get her creative in her room!

Good Luck

Karena - posted on 01/22/2010

Yes he did. I fixed that with those color wonder markers and papers. My walls have been saved!!!

Bridget - posted on 01/21/2010

I'm not a mother of a 2 year old BUT I did some research online and found these

http://www.crayola.com/products/list.cfm...

http://www.crayola.com/products/list.cfm...

I don't know the prices though.

Allison - posted on 01/18/2010

YES!! She has colored all over the walls. I've decided to put away all coloring materials and then sit with her when she asks to color. I bought a few new coloring books to interest her in coloring in the proper places again and when she tires of it I tell her she did a great job and that i'm going to put it all away until she wants to color again. She's been pretty content with that though the first day I had to pull out the coloring stuff a million times. It's like she was testing me to see if she could really color whenever she wanted and when she saw that she could she stopped asking so much :)

Emily - posted on 01/15/2010

My mom got my daughter this big roll of paper that hangs on a door. It's great cause it gives her the room to draw as big as she wants. It came with a sheet of plastic to protect the rest of the door just in case she goes over the edge a little. Also crayola makes washable crayons that come off really easy just in case your little one does give in to the temptation to beautify your walls.

Jessica - posted on 01/02/2010

You have to be a parents first, then be a friend. My son has never colored on the wall..etc. He knows where I put his crayons and coloring books and will ask for them. He knows exactly where he is only allowed to color, at the table. If he does happen to color somewhere other than his color books one day, I will smack his hand and tell him no.

Lize - posted on 01/01/2010

I bought my daughter a board that she can write on. It uses a magnetic "pen" that attracts fine steel shavings onto the page so it looks like she is writing but she is unable to write on anything else except the board with that. It also wipes out with a sweeping-type mechanism.
I hope you understand what I mean. These boards have been around since I was a kid and you can find them at most toy stores.

Another option is to buy black board crayons. They are quite easy to clean off furniture if necessary.

Bianca - posted on 12/29/2009

my son did ths as well. i just put all the colors/markers up. i recently purchased a dry erase table for him to color all over! or you could use the wonder markers that go on clear everywhere but the paper

Samantha - posted on 12/27/2009

Quoting Stacy:

My son colored his crib. I took the markers away from him and as I was about to tell him the no's he said, "pretty." How could I be mad at that? It's really hard to be a single mom. How do you scold and "baby" equally????

An easy thing for that is only give your child crayons only, not markers.  If he is pretty then you tell him something along the lines of "yes that is pretty, but you don't color on the crib, you color on paper only" my daughter can only have crayons while sitting at her table and being supervised. She never has colored on the wall because she knows that she doesn't get up and get to walk around with the crayons.

Christy - posted on 11/01/2009

TAKE AWAY THE MARKERS/CRAYONS!!!!! Sorry, had to do it. I limit it to the TABLE ONLY. And I put a table cloth down so he can only color on the paper, or cloth and not mess up the table/walls/floor/face/sister, etc. etc. etc!

Jane - posted on 10/31/2009

mine does the same thing. my parents gave us a wall that we could do anything we wanted on as well as an old table. some of my siblings have become very creative and artistic as a result.

Lynette - posted on 10/28/2009

I only let my son have crayons when I can sit there and supervise him the entire time. And so far we havn't had a problem with him coloring anywhere but the paper.
Good Luck!

Stacy - posted on 10/25/2009

My son colored his crib. I took the markers away from him and as I was about to tell him the no's he said, "pretty." How could I be mad at that? It's really hard to be a single mom. How do you scold and "baby" equally????

Carrie - posted on 10/24/2009

ok so newest approach that is seeming to work very well i catch her coloring on something and i make her throw the crayon away she hates that so coloring is now just on paper thanks for the advise everyone!

Yvette - posted on 10/23/2009

Make sure the crayons are out of there reach unless u give it to her. There is nothing wrong with u taking away the crayons if she is misusing them. My son colors everyday but he has learn that the crayons are only to be used on his books, or they will be taking away for the rest of the day. If the child does not learn now they will continue straigt into to school

Sabrina - posted on 10/17/2009

my kids re only allowed the crayons when they ask but have to use them properly or they get taken away. and they can only color sitting at the table. we dont walk around with crayons. but if its that big of a concern you could buy the crayola color wonder products the items only work on the special paper and you cant see it on anything else.

Aisha - posted on 10/15/2009

My daughter (also 2) was at first monitored very closely when coloring..and only allowed 2-4 crayons at a time. We made sure she knew to color only on paper and that Mommy and Daddy got upset when she misused her crayons. Sometimes the crayons got put in timeout if they were used incorrectly or thrown. Now she has a coloring tray (you can get them at hobby stores) so that she can sit on the couch or floor. The tray has a pocket on either side, one for crayons and one for coloring pages.

Do not worry about her creativity...you are not refusing to let her color, you are telling her to be creative while respecting property and you. You are teaching her boundaries, respect and responsibility. If she doesn't learn to respect boundaries and rules set by you how will she be able to respect teachers, peers, etc?

Good luck!