I remember LOVING our white board as a kid. Because the markers stained, my mom always had us wear huge t-shirts over our clothes. To get around this problem, EXPO created washable dry-erase markers, and we got to test them out with 12 of our friends last Saturday!
Each kid got to take home a small, high-quality white board, eraser, and two sets of markers (one fine tip, one bullet point). The markers aren’t as bright as the non-washable version, but they don’t smell as strongly, either. And, they wash out – at least mostly! Lily drew all over her purple dress, and there was only one tiny mark left when I pulled it out of the washing machine. Even it looks like it will wash out in subsequent washings, and the markers have washed out of hands and off of our tables with plain water. I think the fine tip markers draw better than the bullet tip ones, and the kids seemed to prefer them. A couple kids even opted not to take the thicker bullet tip markers home!
The party was the perfect way to spend a cold and rainy Saturday morning! Some kids drew roads for our cars to drive on, others drew pictures, and some practiced writing words and letters. A couple kids played with our toys and decided to save their markers for home. Everybody brought healthy snacks to share, which were thoroughly enjoyed by all! =)
Emma and Johnny enjoyed the drawing worksheet so much that they pulled it out again Monday morning. Here are Emma’s drawings:
And Johnny’s:
Have you tried these markers out? What did you think? What is your first white board memory?
MaryAnne is a craft loving educator, musician, photographer, and writer who lives in Silicon Valley with her husband Mike and their four children.
I love that they now make washable versions, even if little marks don’t quite make it out of clothes it’s still a huge improvement over before. What a fun House Party to host, sounds like you got an awesome assortment of goodies. I did a Shutterfly one awhile ago, they are fun events when the product is as neat as Expo and Shutterfly!
I gave them to my daughter a couple of months ago during her rest time to draw on the windows, and they did NOT come out of her clothes. I’m not sure if it was some kind of a fluke, but I’ve been afraid to try them since.
That’s frustrating. Did you stain treat them, or just wash them normally? Lily’s dress was soaked in oxiclean (the entire load was), but no treatment otherwise. And like I said, a tiny dot of pink didn’t come out…
What a wonderful party! They look like they are having a wonderful time.
Awesome party! I am going to buy these…my kids love white boards!
How awesome! What a fun party too! I haven’t seen these, but will be getting some. I love EXPO markers and so does Jack, but I do not like the fact that they stick around on clothes and hands. Thanks for this post and review, Mary Anne.
Cute picture of Lily!
It was a super fun party! And I think you will like these markers! I think there’s still a $2 off coupon if you “like” the expo facebook page.
Thanks for having us! The boys had a great time! And Aidan has grabbed his board often and just sat for quite a while drawing and writing! It’s great!
Yay!!! Thanks for coming! =)
These are awesome! I stopped letting Abby play with them when she ruined a Gymboree outfit with one. I never did get that out!
My son LOVES dry erase. How cool that they’re washable now.
They have washable ones now! SCORE!
What perfect timing! Just the other night I was letting my son use the dry erase board and then belatedly realized the marker was not washable. I will have to get some of these!
I haven’t seen these before. What a great idea to have washable markers for kids to use! And a great idea to invite all their friends over to test them out!
This party looks like fun. We didn’t try washable markers, we use regular kind on our erasable board. Anna’s interest in the boards (we have several of them including the same worksheet type) never lasted long. A few drawings, and she is done for a month :)
That’s funny! My kids are ALL about the white board markers, and it’s nice to have the washable ones now so that there is less worry about them (Lily, mostly) writing on things they shouldn’t!
Thank goodness for washable markers. Someone gave my girls a dry erase board and the markers were not washable. One of the girls ruined the sweater to her brand new dress :( I’ll have to look for this version!
We’ve had clothes ruined by white board markers too – that’s why I was so excited to give these a try!
First, I wish we had just one rainy Saturday. We are on water restrictions because it hasn’t rained here in sooooooooo long. It is terrible and so dry. We are praying for rain soon.
I need to purchase these markers. We use our dry erase almost every day for homeschool. Miss Enigma always wants to join in and she is messy getting them every where. Always worried what she’ll touch when writing. These washable ones will be great for her! She always wants to write and do math like big brother.
I’m “old” so I never had dry erase markers until I taught school. However, I started with old fashioned chalk and a chalkboard. What a mess. Yes, I’m that “old”! Getting a dry erase board was a BIG deal when I teaching! :)
Oh, I hope you get rain soon! Miss Enigma will love these markers!
The classroom I had when I taught had a chalkboard – for the 2002-03 school year. The board was actually falling off the wall. White boards are SO much better!!!
The memory that comes to mind at the moment was when we were out and I let my kids draw quietly on a white board while I participated in a discussion… until another woman saw them and decided to save their clothing by snatching the markers from my startled children’s hands! If only I had had washable markers (or huge t-shirts) that day!
Oh, that’s a sad memory – the second half of it, at least!
I was impressed – out of all the kids at the party, I only saw Lily draw on anything OTHER than the white board, and she was the youngest child actually using the markers.
I haven’t seen these markers! I’m going to look though; my kids love dry erase markers and white boards!
These come in some fun colors, and it’s so nice to not worry about stray marks!