Baby Girl is 20 months old now, and she has been interested in “kiddie art” for a while now. Her favorite medium is acrylic paint, but crayons will suffice when I don’t want to drag all the painting supplies out of the cabinet. While crayons are convenient, Baby Girl tends to press them too hard and snap them into two pieces. I don’t know of a toddler that hasn’t been known to do that! So when I found these crayons at Staples (on sale too!) I thought we would give them a try. (I linked this picture to amazon’s website, but that is nowhere near the price that I paid for mine.)
Sure enough, they work. Not only are they erasable (we don’t use the eraser too often) but they are also virtually unbreakable. Now, I’m sure that they could be broken somehow, but since you have to twist up the crayon tip out of the plastic barrel, they are much more difficult to break.
This is what is currently working for me…what works for you? Head on to Rocks in My Dryer to check out other tips, tricks, and solutions from everyday folks like you and me!
*Updated: Folks…since you are here, mind helping a gal out and telling me if you have any secrets to help control pet odor in the house? We are trying to sell our home….and the two dogs aren’t really helping in that department. Dang they sure are cute though!
Filed under: WFMW Posts
Pet odor: A big problem with pet odor may be carpeting and furniture. You can get it out with a great product called Simple Solution. I wrote about it for WFMW a few months ago. Removing the Odor of Poo It might help you out. I love the stuff and use it on carpeting and furniture. You can even add it to your laundry loads.
I hope you sell your house soon. Best wishes~
Brandy of The Building Brows
Yes! We love these crayons too! Hadn’t thought about the difficulty in breaking them – that’ll come in handy when my 1-year-old starts coloring
For the dogs, you probably need a multi-layered approach. Start with the dogs themselves – make sure to bathe them regularly (weekly? More?) in something that smells good. Human shampoo would probably be just fine, honestly, but if they’re at all sensitive, you probably want either baby shampoo or pet shampoo. Second, don’t let them go out and run in the yard. Keep them on a leash for walks. They won’t get as excited (arousal causes greater scent release), and they won’t roll in anything nasty, or at the very least, you’ll know it if they do. I know that I have seen pet deodorant. You might consider using this before you bring them inside.
For the carpet, I’d sprinkle baking soda or one of those commercial “carpet fresh” type things into the carpet before a showing and then vacuum. I know that I’ve seen some that you just spray on and let dry, no vacuuming necessary, which might be good if you have a last minute showing and don’t have time to vacuum. Read the labels at the store.
You’re also going to want air freshener. I’d go with a “Febreeze Noticable” personally, but you could burn candles, or get spray, or even put a few sticks of cinnamon and a bit of vanilla on the stove in a pan (or really go for broke and bake cookies!!). Don’t go overboard. The key is to make sure that the scent of your carpet fresh matches the scent of the air freshener! You don’t want to use “Spring Breeze” carpet fresh and then have “baking cookies” candles burning, because it will be overwhelming and confusing to the nose. Think of it like meal planning – everything has to kind of go together. If you use a freshly scented carpet thing, get a similarly fresh scented air freshener. When in doubt, go with unscented carpet fresh or baking soda, so you don’t end up smelling like a brothel or a Yankee Candle store.
Good luck!
Hmm…perhaps it could pass for a brothel!
What a great idea!
Thanks for sharing! Mine LOVE to break crayons or draw where they shouldn’t.
You know, I absolutely loved those crayons until my boys figured out that they could twist them up all the way. My 3 year old twisted several of them all the way up and snapped them off, then he carried them around calling them lightsabers.
Summershine: Shh! Don’t let mine know you can to that!!
(But what a great idea for a lightsaber toy!)