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Originally posted by Quaniliaz Aren't there markers that only draw on paper??

yes, but they are expensive, and I don't think I'd want my babe putting those in her mouth either, kwim?
Just an idea--how about those "paint with water" books (have little dots of paint on the page) and a soft paintbrush or a wet sponge? Will be able to achieve that magical effect of creating color on page....
At this age, my dd also used fingerpaints (supervised--to prevent the ingestion-thing).

 

My dd is like that, too, she's a crayon fanatic but keeps chewing on them @@ Seems to be worse when she's tired. I've used pudding (either chocolate or w/coloring) on her highchair tray to finger paint with some success, and the really fat crayons seem to be harder to chew pieces of of. We've also tried a pudding bag (put a few spoons of pudding in a ziplock bag, and squish it). If you put it flat on a table you can draw in it with fingers, or whatever. DD is so-so about this right now, I guess nothing matches the waxy feel and taste of crayola @@ So most of the time she colors with me standng gaurd!

 

One thing dd's daycare did for the little ones was to melt all the broken crayon pieces together into large muffin tins. I'm sure they still went into the mouth sometimes, but a big hunk of wax seemed to be less appealing than a nice, thin little wax stick. The large shape was also easier for them to hold onto and color with.

 

What about a Magnadoodle?

 

i second the magnadoodle!!!!!! it is the best thing for toddlers! the "pen" is connected to it so they cant just run with the pen, and it is not a waste of paper either! i love letting ds color with real paper and stuff, but for most drawing practice i think there is nothing better than the magnadoodle, seriously. i got him one of the $5 little ones, but then his grandma gave him this huge one in the shape of a school bus, and it has magnetic "stamps"(in addition to the pen ) with it....you would need to supervise with the stamps they are small ( you can just put them away for when she is bigger, too) , but other than that , he uses it every day for the last 3 weeks since he got it. it is a fantastic toy! i think the vivid black lines are just the perfect thing for toddlers developmentally.

 

I third the magnadoodle. My toddler loves to it! He does eat the pen, but it's connected. (He's been drawing on it for about a year now)

 

When my ds was still eating crayons I let him fingerpaint with pudding. I put some food coloring in vanilla pudding and put him in his high chair with a few glops of pudding and let him have at it. He sure loved it! And yes, he put alot in his mouth, but it was food so I didn't care.

 

Another vote for magna doodle... We just have the the $5 one, but I did suggest one of the larger ones when all the relatives were wanting to know what toys to buy her for Christmas....

 

with crayola washable markers I found they tasted a lot less good than crayonw and really didn't go in the mouth much. Though of course at that age, we supervised. The color wonder markers are ok, but the paper is $$$, and the premade books are all most places carry ...and they are boring and mot very creative.

"painting" with water on dark construction paper and similar are suggested in some activity books I've looked at.

 

we have two magnadoodles--about the only plastic toys we've kept! have you seen the crayola crayons that twist out? they're wonderful for my youngest---huge crayon eater--and they don't seem to ever break. the tops are a choking hazard, so they are put up. these twistable crayons are a great invention! worth looking at, perhaps?

amy

 

My son will be two Tuesday and still eats crayons (he's only ever had the fat ones).

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He also bit the tips off all Crayola Color Wonder markers. (Ours came with paper, not a coloring book, but it's a moot point, we marked about three pages before Ian bit all the markers.)

The Magnadoodle is a hit, he does enjoy it, but he vastly prefers working in "col-ee" over the monochrome of the Magnadoodle.

What we've been using lately are Gelly Roll pens (under supervision, of course). They come in a six pack in a range of color and we've even got a sparkly set. Ian can't eat them and knock on wood hasn't put one anywhere near his eyes. These work well when we need a little "col-ee."

 

Thank you for all the great suggestions!!

Wet paintbrush on construction paper sounds like an idea that we can try _today_! And the paint with water books - I had completely forgotten about those...that might be fun for a little bit of color.

Pudding is a good idea - I was trying to think of something edible - but dd doesn't eat dairy as of yet, so I'll have to keep thinking.

MagnaDoodle!! That didn't even occur to me - we;ll have to invest in one!!!

Thanks again1!!!

I saw that they used to make "edible" soy-based crayons, but some kids choked on then so they were pulled....

I can't imagine they were any more of a choking hazard than regular crayon, which my dd eats in spite of their non-edibility...

:

 

If not pudding yet, because of the dairy, what about applesauce?

Also, you may want to check out the beeswax crayons used in waldorf - my dd got a set in her stocking for her 1 yo Xmas, and still uses them. They are rectangular blocks and very chunky, and not as yukky as Crayola if they get nibbled, I suspect. They also last forever and don't break when clutched by toddlers.

 

Quaniliaz,
Slightly OT, but what about tofu pudding?

The Farm Vegetarian Cookbooks have easy recipes that are mighty tasty. Its something like soft tofu, lemon juice, oil, sugar, fruit. I feel soooo pregnant tonight that I can't bear the thought of walking downstairs to get a proper recipe for you, sorry! But if you do look for their books, they also have an AMAZING 'ice bean' recipe (exactly like ice cream but made with tofu). This stuff is GOOD - we just had it for dessert tonight.

 

what about triangular giants? they're really fat colored pencils (the tip doesn't get as sharp as a regular pencil) and they're designed for younger kids. my ds also used to put crayons in his mouth, but never really did with the colored pencils.

jodi, mom to joseph - 20 months