How to Clean Crayon Off Painted Walls

There are many commercial stain removing products on the market, but many common household stains can be cleaned with items found around the house.Some parents prefer to have the children clean up or help clean up the messes they make. For that reason, this article will describe a safe and non-toxic means of cleaning crayon marks off painted walls.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• One cleaning rag for each person who will be cleaning
• Baby oil
• Warm soapy water
• One sponge for each person who will be cleaning
• Optional: one pair of rubber gloves for each person who will be cleaning

How to Clean Crayon Off Painted Walls

1. If using rubber gloves, put them on first. Pour a small amount of baby oil onto the rag. Scrub the crayon marks with the rag. Add a little more baby oil to the rag as needed. If a child is involved in the cleaning process, be sure the adult is in control of the baby oil and the pouring.If the crayon marks are extensive, it may be too much of a cleaning project for a child to handle alone. Make sure the child's involvement in the cleaning process is appropriate to her age and ability.

2. Once the stain is removed, dunk the sponge into the soapy water. Ring out the sponge, and wash the area just cleaned with baby oil. This will remove the oily residue from the wall. Do not leave children unattended near the soapy water. Children can drown in as little as 2 inches of water.

3. Put away all cleaning products. Be sure the baby oil and soap are child-locked in cabinets or drawers out of the reach of children.

Tips & Warnings

• If children have a dedicated art area, hanging butcher paper along the bottom portion of the wall in that area protects the wall from crayon, marker and paint mishaps.
• Some paints are made especially to withstand crayon marks and other stains, and need only to be wiped clean. If repainting the walls is in your future, consider investing in this type of paint.
• Always supervise children carefully.
• Keep all cleaning products safely locked up and out of their reach.
• Buy non-toxic crayons and cleaning products in order to keep children safe.

[niblet213]

on 5/28/2009 This solution is AMAZING! My walls were covered in crayon and I was looking for a fairly simple way of removing the marks with out removing the paint. I had used mr clean erasers before and while they took the crayon off they would leave an icky residue and couldn't be used on coloured walls. I was a little skeptical when I read that baby oil would work but, hey it never hurts to try, so I did. WOW! With very little elbow grease it took all the blue and yellow crayon off my white wall. So I went for the big test, the red crayon on the coloured wall. IT WORKED! Not only did all the crayon come off, the paint stayed on the wall where it belongs. An extra bonus is that the room smells great now too, not all chemically. I'm going to recommend this to everyone. Thank you ehow.com :O)