In our house there are two things that multiply while I sleep.
Pencil Cases and Books. (but let's not talk about the books today)
We have so many pencil cases. They are all packed so tight that the zips hardly do up. We have collections of pencils, crayons, pastels, highlighters.
There are special cases for gel pens, glitter pens, smelly pens.
Yet no matter how many pencil cases we have overflowing, there are never any textas that last the next colouring session. There are lids with no matching partner and many a dried up useless texta that has run out.
Let's be honest. No one ever wants all the pencils, everyone always wants the textas. Or the gel pens. But a certain child never shares her beloved gel pens with her sister and will often hide them. The pencils go blunt and then break in the sharpener. The crayons are 'for babies' and the oil pastels are hidden because when someone gets pastels on the carpet or their clothes, this Mumma ain't doing a happy dance!
So here we are yet again, pencils, pencils everywhere but not a thing to colour with. And still, I can't bring myself to throw any out. Instead I just fill another shoe box with pencils, rubbers, rulers, pens, half used sticky notes and smelly highlighters and go shopping for yet more textas.
Over on pinterest people recycle old textas and make paints. When I was at school we used to use the barrels of the old textas for 'pea shooting'. I haven't taught my kids pea shooting yet, it's probably nearly illegal these days.
Got any tips on keeping the colourings under control? Do you know what a pea shooter is (perhaps I should add that to pinterest, I checked, there are none there yet!!)
Oh this sounds EXACTLY like our house! Although Miss 6 did get given two packets of new textas for her birthday last month. As far as I know (or have heard) they are all still working, but give it time!
ReplyDeleteNo tips!! Apart from chuck them all out/give them away! I too have an ever mounting pile of pens/pencils. I just shove them all in a drawer!
ReplyDeleteOh yes. Those damn textas. Surely someone, somewhere has invented textas that never dry out?! They are practically disposable in our house...!
ReplyDeleteIt's funny because I'm the same in the classroom. At the end of the day there are always at least ten pencils on the floor which I pick up and put in a big box. No one ever claims them and they're multiplying rapidly. I've banned textas in the classroom because they fight over them AND use them as pea shooters.
ReplyDeleteI used to love a pea shooter :)
ReplyDeleteAnd our place is the same, too many pencil cases exploding!!
No long ago I went through the mountains of pencils. Put some good ones away for homework. I threw out all the dodgy textas. When the kids come home and ask for different coloured pencils or want new ones I direct them to the container I have put away. They get to 'shop' from there.
ReplyDeleteLol! Our place is like a newsagency. I have the things everywhere and it's out of control. Let me know if you find a solution!
ReplyDeleteYep. Yep yep yep. Laughing along the whole way!
ReplyDeleteThat is us! Our daycare seems to have this whole scenario under control - I don't understand why with only two children I can't control the texta/pencil situation. I tend to have some in an old tomato tin, some in a ziplock in my purse and the rest under couches. That is as organised as it gets.
ReplyDeleteI was once suspended from school for shooting a guy in the leg with a powered up pea shooter and a popcorn kernal. He totally deserved it though. We are the same at our house - bags of pencils and textas and yet at the start of every new school year I still buy more. I have no idea why - maybe an ode to my childhood when fresh sharp pencils and unstained textas was like the best thing ever xx
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