We have tried SO many chalk pens over the years and these Chalkola ones are by far my favourites. They are thinner nibs than other markers we've trialed so writing can be so much neater. This is their Vintage Colour set which is more pastel tone which is what I personally use for my girls:
Obviously pastels aren't for everyone,so they also have a Brights set which would add such a pop to the boards:
These were written with the Chalkola set, and I think it's the clearest board picture I've taken over the years.
Compared to their beginning of year picture which were done with the thicker nibed pens. You can tell the difference most with thier teachers name. It was much easier to write and fit in with the thinner markers (top) than the thicker (bottom) where I practically had to squish it in.
If you do want the look of real chalks however, these Crayola chalks are by far the most vibrant we've found and a much cheaper option to fill out your board while still adding a pop of colour.
As for our second most frequently asked question... How to best clean the boards afterwards?
A baby wipe is the easiest way to clean down the boards. Going section by section and avoiding the decals where possible. You CAN go over the decals, it won't take them off, but Ilittle bits of the fabric can get caught over time - so if you can avoid the lettering, even better. Leave the boards to dry naturally and they are good to use again year after year.
Other tips:
- Use your child's favourite colour to fill in the boards each year and that becomes another favourite to record
- Take the photo in the same spot each year so you can see more easily how much they have grown
- Add a few doodles in a contrasting colour to make them more visually appealing
- If you have multiple children we also offer the boards unpersonalised so you can write in the names of each child if you want to use the same board for each
We also have these reccomendations as a TikTok that you can save and refer to later VIEW HERE.
So there you have our top reccomendations for our chalk boards. If you've found something that you think works just as well, please add your reccommendations to the comments so we can check them out ourselves.