Safe, clean crayons/felts for a 14 mth old that won’t wreck our house – do they exist??

[MillionPramMiles]

My dd is starting to want to pick up pens and paper and try to draw. Is it possible to buy crayons or felt tip pens that can only be used on special paper (and not walls, clothes, bodies etc) and that are safe to put in a child?s mouth? I?ve had a look on line but I can?t seem to find much that?s recommended for this age range. Has anyone used anything they?d recommend? Am tempted to just give her a couple of pencils and try to keep them out of her mouth!

Crayola do a couple of different things like that. Magic pens that can only draw on special paper. Try those.

Or when she gets a bit older they also do a washable range of felts as well. Had every other felt tip banned in my house until DD was 5 lol. They wipe off walls and wash off fabrics and are pretty reasonably priced.

Cheapest place I've seen them is Wilkinsons and they tend to have a range. Try Argos for the magic pens that only work on the special paper, they do different sets.

Not for us.

Almost two year old DTs eat the tips off magic colour Crayola ones, chalk is ok as it washes off everything but again they eat it and ditto crayons (not sure why they still feeel the need to eat everything... Colouring pencils are the best option for us as they can't eat them as easily - and it's washed off the walls so far.

You can get a thing in Lakeland Plastic that I can't remember the name of that is like a big eraser and it takes most marks off the walls.

Thanks both. Have got all of those shops nearby so will see what I can find. Hopefully if they're made for children it isn't going to harm them if they do chew on them?

There's a magic mat you can buy. The pens are filled with water, so when you draw on the magic mat it changes colour but then reverts to white again when it dries.

Melissa and Doug do crayons that are easier for little hands to hold. DS1 has used since he was approx. 12mths so has chewed etc and they don't seem to have harmed him! Also, they seem to wash off most of the walls, floors and furnishings he's tried them out on!

Thanks matana - have ordered that mat. I remembered buying something similar years ago for my niece and she loved it. Once she's a bit older I'll get crayons etc. I think they'll be too tempting to eat at the moment (why oh why doesn everything go in their mouths??).

Ds loved crayons and pens and he was only allowed to used them at the table and we kept them in a room which I then kept on a high shelf!

Miaow - only problem is first thing dd does with a bucket of water is either climb in or pour it over herself (then laugh hysterically). If the weathers good she'll be in the paddling pool for 8 hours straight I expect.

We have a similar problem. The mats are really good, we also have street chalks they can use to draw on the concrete car port floor if you have somewhere like that. They wash off when it rains.

Aquadoodle. Amazing stuff.

all of the above, plus get cheapie oilcloth tableclothes from the market. They protect the table, and /or floor underneath and the reverse side works brilliantly as a canvas for drawing on with crayons when you're ready to get a new one (they also double up as a mat under the sandtable in our garden). If your DD gets into painting, I recommend the fingerpaints that Sainsbury's do. they come in little pots and are just slightly jellified coloured water, easily wipes off, much more so than normal kids paint.