Cleaning Crayon Off Walls: Again, And Again, And Again, Forever Amen

Crayons. sigh.

They’re great! In theory. Not so great when your kid discovers that they write on more than just the fancy-pants paper easel you bought her thinking it would keep her occupied. Walk away for two minutes to use the bathroom in peace (a feat in itself!) and come back to find the house COVERED in crayon. Like, impossibly so. Like, so much so that you wonder if any of those magical Disney animal friends were involved in the process.

Check out these reference photos below. (Mind you, this is a mere fraction of the damage)

Talented, right? Especially that last one. The sheer range!

So what’s a peep to do? I tried Thieves Household Cleaner- nope. Lemon essential oil- nope (also, bad idea for painted walls. Oops) Soap & water- nope. Hair dryer/spouse’s heat gun- ehh kinda? But not really so, nope. I was at a loss. Then a friend told me she had tried baking soda. Baking soda! Of course!

Here’s what she told me to do:
Make a thick paste by mixing water & baking soda and rub it on the walls with a paper towel. It’s important not to rub too hard, or else you might accidentally take some paint off with your super-strength. The abrasive nature of the baking soda is doing the work here!

I decided to start with the smallest piece of “art” currently on loan in our living room. (the second picture with the green crayon)

However, I must have done something wrong during the supposedly-simple ingredient mixing process, because mine was all crumbly every time I tried to rub it in!

The crumbly baking soda mess, featuring Lucy and a lone, forgotten cheerio.

OK, I can fix this. I added more water. It’s working! If it started to get crumbly, I’d simply dampen it with a bit with water in a spray bottle. It worked pretty well! But it took like, half an hour to finish just this one wall. Also my arm hurts.

Progress! It works!

I pushed through the arm pain and sheer boredom and VOILA. It really works! My paint is perfectly in tact (it’s god-awful flat paint in barfy renter’s beige though, so that’s kind of a win lose LOL) so I know I can do this again if and when my toddler gets loose with a crayon again. Probably tomorrow, maybe even today…

BEHOLD! A wall free of crayon!

Now how can I KEEP the crayon off the walls?

That’s one of life’s great mysteries, I guess!

Maybe I’m just doomed to spend the rest of my life cleaning crayon off walls. Oh well! At least I know I can get it off the walls if I ever feel the urge. For now? It’s not a big deal to me. I’d rather just live with it and focus my energy elsewhere.