Removing Crayon and Other Stubborn Marks
Thankfully my children are past the age of drawing on walls with crayons. But the other day my girls were in full art mode at my kitchen table.
After they cleaned up their crayons and pencils, I was left with crayon marks and smudges from the lead pencils all over my painted cream table. A washcloth with hot soapy water just couldn’t cope with the mess.
The solution is simple and doesn’t require a special cleaning product… ie. Magic Eraser or other such product.
Baking soda works wonderfully well on crayon marks, is very cheap, and safe for the environment– and it’s always in my cupboard.
Is there no end to what baking soda can do?
1. First dip your washcloth into hot soapy water and wring it out.
2. Then dip into or sprinkle a little baking powder onto the cloth.
3. Then lightly rub out the mark.
4. And the mark is gone.
5. Now rinse off the baking soda by wiping down the table or wall with a hot soapy washcloth. I just dip the soda washcloth back in the sink and then wring it out.
Now let’s try it with the pencil smudges.
And the result is the same.
This process works just as well on a wall- the perfect solution for those budding little artists who love to color on walls.
I love, love, love baking soda. And if you don’t believe me, check out a just a few of the other ways I clean with it.
- Clearing a slow drain.
- Cleaning and deodorizing a refrigerator.
- Cleaning a dirty sink.
- Cleaning a dirty frying pan.
- Deodorizing carpets.
This was great! Thanks for the tips.
I also like to use it in my hair once a week. I add a small amount to my shampoo, scrub my hair well, and let it sit for a minute, then rinse well. My hair feels more manageable and soft and it looks good too. I guess it helps get the remaining little bit of hairspray and gels out. You should try it.
Oh! This is great! I must try this where my 4yo thought to mark her height on the wall… with a red crayon… in the hallway… Thank you!
Well today we had melted crayon in the dryer and it’s all over the load of clothes. Sigh.
Heather, The only one word for that is depressing! I recently had the same exact experience with Silly Putty. I promptly banned Silly Putty from our home forever… with the same gusto as the Queen of Hearts shouting “Off with her HEAD!” My kids think I’m so funny. It took some serious elbow grease, but I finally got it out, without resorting to spraying WD-40 all over our clothing. I used Spray ‘n Wash along with Baking Soda and it did come out. You can’t even have the pleasure of banning crayons!
I was so glad the day you posted this. My little one decided to draw on her sister’s desk that I just painted. It worked perfectly and I didn’t worry about it taking off the paint…although I’m sure it did because I was too anxious to get it done that I’m sure it could have used another coat.
I also used this to get marker off the wall. Works way better than the magic eraser. I told my husband that I am going to clean all the walls with this.
Thanks so much for sharing!
I use Goo Gone on our crayon disasters (fabrics, walls, dressers, etc.) It has always worked like a dry eraser, but I’ll definitely be trying this, too. Also, on (certain) marker on your walls, you can use some rubbing alcohol mixed with water (1/2 and 1/2), it comes right off, you can also use that mixture to shine things up in your kitchen.
Also, When my daughter was about 16 months old she took a blue sharpee to my beige microfiber couch. I had a small panic attack. We turned over the cushions and for 2 years would try everything I came across (starting with basics, but terrified of using things like alcohol because I didn’t want it to run) to get it out. My mom finally found this stuff called “lift off grafitti remover”. (Do not use this on painted walls, folks. It will take marker off, but not without losing your paint. So unless you are prepared to repaint…). It took a lot of elbow grease and watching the entire series of The Dick Van Dyke Show on Netflix, but I got it mostly out. It only shows up on the wrong side of the fabric. I was able to throw the cushion covers in the washing machine and wash them on the delicate cycle with vinegar and water to get the remover washed out. They look brand new! I don’t know if it would work so well on other fabrics, though.
Thank you SOOOOO much for the tip! I homeschool my kids and we have started doing schoolwork on our white kitchen table. It was covered in pencil smudges a few minutes ago and now it is perfectly white and clean again! Yay!! God bless you!!