My mother is giving a speech today at the University of Maryland for her new book, Stanley Hayami: Nisei Son…go mom. Apart from writing 50 plus children’s books and parenting books, my amazing mother has written this book–based on the diary of a young man who was sent ( along with 120,000 other Americans of Japanese descent ) to internment camps during World War II. Stanley then served in the Army–and died serving his country. My mother has taken this primary source and brought his story to life with such clarity and emotion, that people are moved to tears when they “meet” Stanley. I recently heard her speak at NYU–and again I marveled at how my mother is such a gifted story teller. I also highly recommend Dear Miss Breed–the story of a dedicated librarian who became an incredible and consistent source of support to so many children and their families sent to camps during WWII.
All of this is by way of my saying that my mother and I usually play with window markers and crayons together. So I’m proud that she’s off giving another speech–but I miss that she’s not here. I have just tried out Crayola’s new Window Crayons. At first I felt a little awkward coloring on our office windows by myself–but I’ve loosened up…and have created a garden of flowers and grass. Try it, it’s liberating.
If you’re ok with kids drawing on windows/sliding doors–this is a REALLY FUN activity. At only $4.99–it’s a great buy. Comes with five colors.
This is a really good idea.
However, one thing to keep in mind.
We had something similar to this for my nieces several years ago. They were roughly 4. They had a blast drawing on the windows in the dining area and living room. And the next morning when their mother woke up, she discovered that some time in the middle of the night they also had a blast drawing on the walls and the blinds and the curtains, etc.
Lesson learned: make sure your children understand the difference between a specific activity of drawing on the windows versus “hey mom let us draw on the windows, so surely we can draw on anything else we want!”.
They are fun though!
oh no! You are so right…I’m big on having a wall with chalkboard paint. It’s so satisfying…
I’ve seen that! I’ve also seen the magnetic paint. We contemplated using both paints in my son’s room and getting him lots of colored chalk and big, fun magnets he can play with.
The plus of the chalk is that if, by chance, it does make it onto furniture it’s not that hard to get out.
See, chalk is a controlled substance in my house because once my son drew on the carpet with blue sidewalk chalk and it was very, VERY difficult to get it out. Steam cleaned it at least four times if memory serves.
So how hard are these to clean?
Yikes! You need to use a window cleaner to get it off–but I haven’t tried it on other materials.
Oh my! I guess the colored chalk is a lot different than plain white chalk. My nieces got some on the wall and on their couch and it came right off with a good ole Magic Eraser.
crayons are dangerous in the hands of a 2 1.2 year old but i’ve got 2 huge sliding doors that he would love to draw all over. me too! i am leary because i have taffeta curtains. Anybody have issues/ other than the chalk disaster — and i was JUST going to make a spot for a magnetic chalk board. .. i’ll stick with white chalk 😉
Taffeta curtains and Crayons—not a good combo for sure!
Nice keep up the good work. where can we subscribe to the sites newletter?
Thanks! We’re doing the blog in lieu of the newsletter–and you can also follow us me on facebook for up-to-minute coverage. http://www.facebook.com/search/?q=stephanie+oppenheim&init=quick#!/pages/Stephanie-Oppenheim/54521102444?ref=search&sid=1410100767.2722347236..1
sup – nice blog, just searching some blogs, seems a reasonably nice platform you are utilizing. I’m currently using WordPress