Aquadoodle or Similar Drawing/scribbling Product

We have both color wonder products by crayola as well as the aquadoodle. My son has loved both. Crayola also makes finger paints and things that won't color things besides the special paper. The only thing to watch with the color wonder stuff is although it won't leave color, it CAN (won't necessarily) leave a slight oily mark on items, so some supervision is still needed.

Crayola has these great color wonder markers / pens / paint. You buy special paper and the markers only work on the paper - nowhere else. They are a little pricey, but to me, they are definately not worth the worry of getting marker on everything!

You can find them anywhere you would find normal markers. Target has a large selection.

Our daughter started using crayons around 18 months and she sticks to the paper... most of the time. We just make sure she's coloring somewhere we can keep an eye on her and it washes off if she does go off paper. We did get the fatter crayons. She discovered the normal ones break easily and had a great time snapping them all in half! And as far as your concern about eating them... I know I was reading an interesting article on things kids eat and and crayons was one that was on the no concern list since it just goes right on through - just might make a colorful diaper! Just be sure it's non-toxic, which Crayola is.

Aquadoodle is great since it is only water. We've tried color wonder, washable markers and crayons. My son who is 2 has an older sister so of course he wants to use everything she is using. In my opinion - all arts/crafts should be well supervised. There always seems to be plenty of teachable moments during these activities. Just keep repeating "we only color on paper" or "remember to put the cap on." Only issues I've come across is non-washable colors/markers and dry-erase markers. Dry-erase and of course permanent markers are permanent. Let him explore but under a structured env't and under rules. He'll do just fine!

I like Aquadoodle, but exploring with crayons and stuff for permanence is important too. I love the suggestion another person had for the cheap shower curtain. They have some at dollar tree so its even less of an issue since you can get several at a time. With those you could use them for playdo (find the recipe to make your own.. less expensive and technically edible) or painting etc. You can probably get away with just hosing those off or during the winter just let them dry and use until they're too messy then toss. Grab some magic erasers while you're at it because those will take up anything.. and I mean ANYTHING. They were priceless when I was teaching, it took permanent marker (some smarty pants brought one from home) off of my classroom's floor, markers off of tables/floors, off of the kid furniture etc. They're wonderful. If it can nix the permanent marker situation then it will probably help you at least do damage control with normal crayons/markers while your son is learning what surfaces are okay and which aren't. Also, crayons are non-toxic.. its gross when they eat them but the worst it will do is make for an interesting potty experience. Markers are also non-toxic (i dont know about other brands, but I believe Crayola's are) so the worst you'll get with that is a colorful mouth if they eat it. It might stick around for a day but will go away.

If you give your kid opportunities to explore how messy these things can be it might help them focus more on what they're doing rather than getting it all over your table or floor. One of our favorite activities used to be water colors or markers with coffee filters. It makes a stained glass effect that is really neat when dry. For water colors there are no extra steps.. just paint and dry. For markers draw on the filter then spritz with water then dry. You can also try tear and glue projects where they tear up construction paper then mosaic it onto a larger paper. You can slather on some glue from a glue stick or attempt trusting them with it under supervision.

Oh.. and we manage because there's 2 of us! ;) We get pretty good at figuring out what takes paint/marker/crayon off of skin/clothes/surfaces pretty quickly. A good bleach solution usually can take care of any surface problem but when that fails magic erasers rule! For skin usually soap and water will work. In day cares we can't use these but wet ones can take care of a lot too. Even through all of that, trust me.. some kids go home quite colorful!

Look at Crayola products. They have the Color Wonder products that only work on special kinds of paper. We have both markers and fingerpaints and our 2 year old loves them. You do have to buy the special paper which can make them more expensive, but your kiddo can't write or paint on anything else.

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We bought our daughter an aqua doodle and she saw right through it, if you know what I mean? She didn't like it, she wanted to color with crayons on paper. What we have now settled on are washable crayons from crayola. She will chew on them, and a lot of them are broken into little peices, but at least I know I can wash them off the walls, and out of any fabric she might draw on, and they're nontoxic so when she does chew on them it's not a big deal.

Originally I wanted to get her a bunch of the no mess crayola stuff, but it's really expensive, and I din't like any of the coloring books they make for it. My DD likes Sesame Street, and they don't make no mess Sesame Street coloring books. She prefers, right now, to color in coloring books, not just plain paper.

Nese,
We got both of our children one of the big "lap-sized" magna doodles when they were that age. You can draw over and over on it. The big benefit for us was that we would often leave it in the car so that there was always something to do ready & waiting for them that was fun and non-messy - but they used it plenty in the house, too.
We also have a floor sized aqua doodle. It is fun too, but more limiting. Can't take it along places or in the car.

Aquadoodles and Magnadooles are the way to go, if he puts the pen of the aquadoodle in his mouth it is just water in the pen. We have both and my kids love both (they are 10 and 4 year old twins), plus you don't have the mess of all the papers, crayons, markers, pens, pencils, or paints all over the place.

An aquadoodle is perfect, because they only write with water. How safe is that! I have an 18-mo-old too, and she just used an aquadoodle for the first time and loved it! Also, there are washable crayola markers. As long as he keeps them out of his mouth, he should be pretty safe with those.

I haven't personally tried the Aquadoodle, so I can't say anything about it. My youngest son (he's now 5) loved his lap-sized Magnadoodle (so much so that we've had to replace it several times.) We also tried the Crayola Color Wonder products (the markers and the fingerpaints), but my son just seemed confused by the delay between him drawing and the color actually appearing. Now that he's older, we just give him a dry-erase board, marker, and eraser and he's happy. Another thought (if you don't mind giving up a wall) is chalkboard-paint. I read about it in a parenting magazine. Literally, it's just a special paint that you apply to a wall (or part of a wall) that mimics the texture (and erase-ability) of a chalkboard. Then your child can happily draw on "that" wall with chalk and it cleans up easily.

You can give him any drawing tools, as long as you sit with him and supervise. At 18 mos, he can use crayons, markers, paint, brushes, etc, and will probably love it. I would not leave him alone with them.

Aquadoodles and Magnadooles are great for his age, too, but doesn't let him keep his creation.

S.

I prefer the MagnaDoodle over the AquaDoodle (we have both). The MagnaDoodle is ready to use any time. The AquaDoodle "pen" needs to be refilled constantly, and you have to wait for the pictures to fade before you can draw more.
Crayola ColorWonder markers and paper are awesome, but they are more spendy. The markers will only color on the special paper so you don't have to worry about any mess.

Crayola color wonder markers--they are the markers that only show up on special paper. There are coloring books and blank pages available. My daughter loved these b/c I would even let her take them in the car with us. Now she is 5 and prefers the "real thing", but color wonders gave her good practice!

I don't have recommendations for non-marking stuff, but I definitely recommend Color Wonder (NOT the fingerpaints, for an 18 month old), as a non-marking. Better yet...I know at Target, and probably a lot of other places, Crayola makes a HUGE pad of paper--it has a built in handle at the top--and I use that for my toddler. I can seat him at the table, put the paper down, and the paper covers his entire reach. Of course, I give him washable crayons--we stay away from Markers--but this seems to work well for me. Or, sometimes, I give him an 8 1/2X11 sheet of paper, and I put packing paper beneath it (we moved 2 years ago and have literally thousands of sheets of packing paper).

Oh, and one huge, huge DO NOT: Crayola makes a 3 pack of markers intended for toddlers. They are round and shaped like animals...and they are AWFUL. I had them for my 2 year old, and he couldn't make them work--the tip is too small by comparison to the part you hold--and he kept holding onto the tip end, making it a HUGE mess. Even my five year old struggled with them!

Finally--I'm not sure where you intend to have your 18 month old color, but I'd recommend his high chair, if you're still using one. M

The Aquadoodle's are wonderful. My kids recieved one last year from their grandparents for Christmas. Another good thing to try would be the Crayola wonder color things. They only mark on the special paper. They have finger paints, and markers.

If you tell yourself ahead of time to expect a mess, it's easier to deal with. Let him explore crayons and markers, even finger paint. Just be right there with him teching him how to use them properly. Buy a cheap shower curtain, spread it out on the kitchen floor and make sure that all your markers, crayons, and paint are washable. All the Crayola ones wash out perfectly. Some even come off with just baby wipes. Crayola makes giant pads of paper you buy at Target for them to color on. Don't worry about the mess, it's making the mess that is so much fun!!! :)