FAQ's - First Day of School Chalkboards

FAQ's - First Day of School Chalkboards

Please note we only reccomend items that we have used ourselves, all opinions expressed on this blog are our own. This post does however contain affilate links, which means we can earn a small commision on our reccomendation(s) at no extra cost to yourself.

 

One question we get asked a LOT is our reccommendations for writing on our Back to School Chalkboards / Birthday Boards. I'm going to say it - chalk? It's not the best - it's dull and doesn't show up well in photos, it's also not the easiest thing to wirte neatly with.  Chalkboard Markers however? They are vibrant, clear and make the answers really stand out on the board in photos.

 

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:

 

 

Our runners up are these markers.  We used these for a long time before we found the Chalkola ones. They are a little cheaper and smooth writers, so could be a good choice if you are on a budget but the nibs are thicker so fitting writing in the little boxes is a bit harder (but not impossible).

 

 

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.

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