3 Sharpie Projects Kids Will Enjoy
Monday, January 27, 2014 at 5:00AM
A tin of vibrant Sharpies can keep my children busy for HOURS.
I'm not kidding. HOURS.
And that's ok.
A word of caution: Moms, you know you need to supervise your kids with Sharpies up until a certain age, right? I remember a certain four year old boy that was SO PLEASED he could write his name - that he wrote his sweet name IN SHARPIE ON HIS BRAND NEW JEANS. (not good)
Use Sharpies with caution.
We buy new Sharpies at least four times a year. They get used that much around here.
The creativity, enjoyment, and {blessed} peace and quiet for mom make it more than worth it.
In our home we've had three excellent Sharpie projects that have coincided with quite a bit of learning.
Art For Kids
Simply let your children spend an afternoon on Art For Kids. These drawing tutorials are so fun and easy to follow.
My son had just gotten a brand new 24 count pack of Sharpies and was in HEAVEN when I told him he could have the iPad and just go through as many tutorials as he wanted.
Remember that {blessed} peace and quiet I talked about earlier? I had a ton of it thanks to this awesome website!
Map Tracing
An assortment of Sharpies, quality maps (our some from the Classical Conversations Connected), and lots of tracing paper make for another educational Sharpie activity.
Who doesn't like seeing something beautiful they have created? Tracing maps is tedious, but for some reason all the kids get out of it is FUN and loads of geography KNOWLEDGE.
You could let your kids trace just about anything, though.
My son loves to trace pages from his LEGO Minifigure Year by Year, the comics, or just about anything else that strikes his fancy.
Sharpie Tie Dye
This activity takes just a little more supervision, but if you have a big kid (like my 12 year old), then your children are perfectly fine to do this one on their own.
All you need are plenty of vibrant Sharpies, white bandanas, a medicine dropper, plastic cups, rubber bands, and rubbing alcohol.
After your children draw the intial designs on the bandana, it is much fun to watch the colors blend together when they drop the alcohol on the fabric.
See more detailed instructions from a previous Science Sunday post I wrote about this activity.
Fun!
Oh, and here's a BONUS: you can use your Sharpies to make Rubber Band Bracelets!! How cool is that?
What is your kids' favorite thing to do with Sharpies?
*Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with Sharpie in any way and have not been paid to write this post. We just LOVE Sharpies!
Reader Comments (12)
We use sharpies quite a bit too! I love using them for drawing lessons - especially with my daughter who tries to do everything "perfectly". If she doesn't get things just the way she wants with a sharpie she can't erase but has to be more creative with her "fixing". And yes, sharpies are only allowed at the table with a drawing mat underneath!
The Art for Kids website is a new one to us - thanks for sharing the link. Always looking for more art ideas.
Great projects. Sharpies Rock!
Hey Mary,
Thanks so much for including us in your post today! It means so much that your kids enjoy using it!
Love the other ideas too, going to have to do them with my kids.
Sharpies are the best :)
Rob
Mary~
Hi!
Thx for the ideas.
We are not enrolled in CC ---is there a place for me to order those blanks maps? I am constaty looking at websites for maps and blank ones too for the kids to label. I find you can never have enough. I don't know if theya re only available to CC families though.
Thanks!
We love Sharpies, too, and my 9YO loves to spend an afternoon on Art for Kids! We haven't tried that tie dye project yet; sounds fun.
My kids will draw or color ANYTHING with Sharpies, but you're right about using them with caution. A few years ago, we bought a cute little breakfast nook. A few days after getting it, I found ”Dillon” written neatly on the top of the table!
If by chance your Sharpie marker get on tables, counters, hands, you can try use spray on sun screen to take it off. We discovered this many moons ago during swim meets. In marking up little bodies with their swimming info and important messages on their backs (such as "eat my bubbles!") we discovered that the marker would come right off when sprayed and wiped.
For things you want to keep long term you should try BIC Mark-It's they are acid free and last longer then Sharpies. I adore them and always have a pack (or two) on hand.
Great post, some interesting ideas here, my daughter loves to draw and paint, looks like I may have to teach her the sharpie tie dye, that is a cool idea, thanks!
These are some cute ideas! I'll have to have Jerry take a look!
Great ideas, thanks!
Love this! My kids are always stealing my Costco sharpies, I was thinking of getting them each their own for Vday, now I have some fun ideas to let them explore with them!