It’s a miserable, grey February half term holiday from school. The children are bored (it’s only day one – it’s going to be a long week!). They’ve played with toys, they’ve played on their tablets, X-Box, computer… It’s too wet in the garden and we’re watching the eleventy-billionth episode of Paw Patrol. Ugh. How can we relieve the boredom? There’s a knock at the door; a delivery man has a package for us… Chalkola Chalk Markers!
Read on to find out what we did with them, what we thought of them and to win a pack of your own!
What are they?
Chalkola Chalk Markers are marker pens that can be used on any non-porous surface. “Marker pens?!?!” I hear you shout in terror! Yes, and you can draw on the windows with them! As long as the surface is smooth and non-porous, the ink will wipe off easily, leaving behind a clean surface.
The pens come in various different sets and colours. There are jumbo ones, thin ones, neon ones, earth tones, and metallic colours. The pens contain a water-based chalk ink, rather like paint, and are non-toxic, Xylene free and odour free, making them safe and fun for even young children to use. They can be used on many different surfaces, including white boards, chalk boards, glass, ceramics, mirrors, tiles, plastics… pretty much anywhere as long as it’s non-porous!
How did we test the product?
The children were excited to try the pens out on our large white board. The pens need priming when you first get them out of the packet. This involves pressing the nib onto a surface several times until the ink comes down and covers the nib. I used some scrap paper to do this. Then the children got to work…
Small doesn’t really draw ‘things’ yet, so she just did lots of scribbling with the 15mm jumbo pens!
Big enjoyed writing on the white board with the 6mm tips.
We also tried them out on our LED board!
I had a go at decorating a vase, and I even bought a chalkboard sticker sheet to put on the back of the white board and tried them out on that!
What did we think of the product?
The Chalkola marker pens were fun to use. The colours are vibrant and there is a great range. We experienced different results on different surfaces and found some of the colours to show up better than others. The manufacturers claim that the marker pens are ‘quick drying’ – we did not always find this to be the case. As you can see in the picture above of the chalkboard sticker, some of the markers dripped and ran on the upright board. We found it took a long time to dry on the white board, meaning things got a bit messy! I would definitely recommend supervising closely and taking precautions if letting a small child loose with these pens! Small did get some on her clothes, but, thankfully, it did wash out. My rug is a little pink-stained, however!
The best result we had was on the LED board. The Chalkola markers really did show up well and looked great when lit and changing colour!
What did we like?
- Â the range of colours
- the range of nib sizes
- the metallic pens weren’t as messy
- the range of surfaces the marker pens can be used on
- safe for children – non-toxic
- easy to clean off and doesn’t leave a stain behind like some traditional dry-wipe markers
Anything we didn’t like?
- the length of drying time on certain surfaces led to smudging, dripping and colours bleeding into each other.
- a couple of the paler colours look a little wishy-washy on some surfaces
- the mess potential!
Our overall verdict…
Chalkola chalk markers are lovely to use to create bright, vibrant art projects around the home. With a little care, attention and patience you and your children can produce masterpieces just about anywhere! Well worth having in your rainy day arts and crafts stash to keep the kids occupied for a while!
Where can you get them?
Chalkola Chalk Markers are available direct from the website: https://www.chalkola.com/ and via Amazon (prices vary depending on product).
And, lucky readers, I have a discount code which will give you 15% off all Chalkola products! Just quote “15OFFSTR” when you order.
Disclosure: We were sent two sets of Chalkola Chalk Markers in return for a fair and honest review. All views and opinions are my own.
Kelly is a mother of two – her son H and daughter Tink. H is home educated, Tink is autistic. Kelly is a self-employed Virtual Assistant… Life is busy!
Since Easter is approaching I’d probably draw a variety of colourful eggs on the window in the conservatory,
I’d use them to decorate some easter plates for the kids – we could put a space on for a carrot for the easter bunny , and then a space for the bunny to leave the eggs in and then the names 😀
HOPSCOTCH ON THE PATIO!
I love the idea of drawing pictures on our patio doors and having some fun, especially like the idea of drawing things like moustaches and using them as selfie props
Ah we’d use them to decorate the shed outside with dragons and butterflies 🙂
I would like to write up menus for the week
I’d let my little boy go mad, whatever he felt the in mood for!
I’d let my daughter decorate the windows ad mirrors with dragonflies and butterflies x
I would draw a house into which my granddaughter would add all the furniture etc.
My daughter says she’s draw a butterfly on her notebook!
We would draw pictures on the bathroom mirror. It would be nice to leave messages for each other. Xx
great prize
I’d decorate the garden table with butterfly’s
I would draw a space scene for my son to play
whatever the kids want me to
a farm in the garden
I’m not a great drawer to be honest so I’d probably just draw stick people, it would be ,my daughter who would love these, she draws beautiful flowers, animals family pictures etc, I would let her decorate her playhouse with them
Butterflies and flowers on the windows 🙂
I’d like to use them with my children on the windows in the back yard. We would use them to draw flowers and pretend that we have a garden.
I’d draw a hopskotch for my little girl
id draw funny faces on the windows
I’d test them out by drawing a picture of “Whats for Tea on the white board in the hope of encouraging some help with preparing it.
Those pens are huge!. We’d decorate an old wall mirror.
I’d draw up a cleaning rota
the boys could design nameplates for their doors
My toddler loves it when I draw cats and butterflies for her, on her chalk board and aquadoodle mat
I’d draw easter eggs and bunnies on the Windows with my 3 year old grandson
my son would have fun drawing trains1!
My girls would use them on their blackboard – we have asthma in the family so think these are a fab dust-free alternative to chalks, can’t wait to try them! x
I’d draw our family (in stickman form!) on the kids blackboard 😀 I’m sure they will be much more creative though 😉
A ‘Wedding this way’ sign for our wedding party!
To start labellling things.
we’d draw cats and dogs my girls fav things to draw x
I’d draw up a cleaning rota
Now that the sun is streaming in through the windows I’d get my little boy working on some nice ‘stained glass’ effect flowers…not sure how they’d come out but would add a lot of coloured light to the room 😉 x
I think for sure my daughter would love to draw butterflies and flowers on our patio.
I would decorate some jars, then put some t-lights in and use outside on the patio
I would draw a coastal scene on my bathroom window x
to start with i think labeling inthe kitchen
We would do something on the kids bedroom windows x
I would decorate some tea light holders
We would decorate hard boiled eggs for Easter
I would let my 4 year old little girl draw what ever she wanted on the kitchen window!
with such array of clours flowers would be nice
I’d draw a picture of all of our family on the patio doors 🙂
I would do some doodles in our back yard – I would let my daughters decide what to draw 🙂
To do lists, on the Kitchen black board
Id draw flowers ? on the windows
I would let my children use them in the garden 🙂
I’d decorate some plain glass jars for the kitchen