December 12, 2007
How to get crayon off of your new 52" LCD TV


This morning I threw a bowl of cheerios on the table, turned on Little Einsteins, and left Hatchling on his own while I went to brush my teeth and get dressed for the gym.

Big mistake.

A few minutes later, as I was wandering around the house looking for something or other, Hatchling informed me that "Daddy's TV was dirty, and I needed to clean it." Now I don't know about your kids, but mine can't seem to help touching the screen with sticky, gooey fingers- so I wasn't too concerned. And then I spotted the TV. There were blue circles and curlicues all over the thing.

My initial response was to send Hatchling to the corner, while muttering that I was pretty sure his daddy was going to kill him. He stood in the corner and wailed that he didn't want to be killed whilst I tried out glass cleaner (didn't work) and the glass wipes we get at the car wash (also didn't work). Then I called L with the news. We both felt like crying. Did I mention we just got our TV a month ago? Yeah.

I turned to google, and after some searching was able to find a post from some cat who claimed to work for a high end electronics store. Apparently mine isn't the first child to do this (this is only mildly reassuring). He recommended using warmed peanut oil to clean the screen. After another consultation with L (in which we discussed chemistry and why we thought this might work), I went to work. For anyone who has landed at this post via a web search of "how to clean Crayola off of your LCD TV," here's what I did:

Warm some peanut oil in a bowl (I put some in the microwave for about 45 seconds). Take a soft cloth (I used old cotton dish cloths), dip in oil, and gently rub on TV screen (TV should be off!). After you can see that the crayon marks are gone, clean screen with some sort of glass cleaner and those microfiber glass cloths you get with glasses. Be sure not to spray any cleaner directly onto the screen, put it on the cloth and then clean the screen. Also you are not supposed to rub hard, it can damage something, so be careful.

After this episode, I made Hatchling throw his crayons in the trash- he can't have any more until he's 10 or so. Then I put a pull- up on him and we headed to the gym. I'm happy to say that I have finally learned an important lesson- trouble follows trouble. While he normally wears big boy underwear without incident, I had a feeling today was going to be a trial to my already shaky sanity, and sure enough, Hatchling pooped in his pants THREE times while at the gym. We had to leave with him stinky because we were out of pull ups in his bag, and here's the pretend phone call he had on the way to get my allergy shot that nearly had me running off the road because I was trying not to let him see me laugh:

"Hello, Santy Claus? Yes, this is Hatchling. I've been pretty bad today Santy. I was playing school with all my [imaginary] friends, and I colored all over Daddy's TV. Mommy cleaned it up, but Daddy's gonna spank me when he gets home, and he might kill me. Mommy says so. Then I pooped in my pants at the gym. I sure am stinky. Now we gotta go get Mommy a shot and everyone is gonna smell my poop and think I'm yucky Santy Claus. I've been pretty bad today, but I sure want that bird workshop* Santy Claus. Ok? Bye bye!"

Goodness, it's hard to stay mad at that boy...

*It wasn't nearly that expensive at Sam's.
18 Comments:
Blogger lawyerchik said...
Oh my..... Slush, I am so sorry about the TV mishap, but I had to laugh at your little darling's activities!! Why wouldn't a 52" TV screen look like a giant canvas for coloring? :)

Glad you got it cleaned up, and I hope today is a better day!!

Anonymous Anonymous said...
Oh dear.Stumbled across your blog because our 3 1/2 year old apparently took a crayola to our new big screen too...and we haven't even had it a week now. Sighs. I'm sick in bed. His daddy found the artwork. Ugh. I feel your pain.

Anonymous Anonymous said...
Oh thank you for this! My 3 year old daughter and 4 year old son just colored all over our LCD screen TV. I tried to clean it up but nothing is working. I will tell my husband about the peanut oil when he gets home. Thanks for the suggestion...and isn't it good to know we're not alone?! At least you were doing something important when your kid did it. I was on the phone with a friend that just lives around the corner from me. My husband is going to KILL me when he gets home!!!! :)

Blogger Katti said...
I am so glad to come across your blog:0)! we just bought a 42" about two weeks ago, and just as you I was occupied when my two year old decided that would make a pretty picture! I just found it while running around picking up because my hubby is on his way home. He has been underway for the last three days and is very tired, and had a trying day! Oh is he going to love this!!!!! But now I can assure him that we can get it off with your advice! Thanks so much!

Anonymous Anonymous said...
What is it with 3yr olds? My daughter scribbled green crayon all over our 46" LCD TV!!! The warm peanut oil did the trick though! Thanks for sharing the tip.

Blogger Jen said...
Just wanted to add my thanks for this post to the list! The warmed peanut oil certainly did the trick - it even took off the crayon residue on a computer monitor that I'd given up on!
Kids sure are amazing ;)

Thanks, Jen

Anonymous Anonymous said...
My 2-year old just colored all over our new LCD TV and we haven't even had it for 24 hours! We just purchased it last night. Thanks for the post.

Blogger Unknown said...
Thanks for this post-- my 3 year-old daughter colored on the LCD TV in her room while she was in "quiet time", TWICE (she doesn't nap anymore, boo-hoo). I am definitely going to try the peanut oil. Your son's conversation with Santy Claus had my husband and I laughing until we cried. It IS hard to stay mad at them, isn't it?

Blogger Unknown said...
That was amazing. My 3 year old just wrote all over my 61" Toshiba (not new, thank goodness). I found your article and said "yea, right", but I figured I'd give it a go. I didn't have any peanut oil, but I have lots of olive oil. Heated up a little bowl of it for 45 seconds. Used corners of a towel wiping in a circular motion, new corner for each "section" of crayon. It worked AMAZINGLY well. Gone in about two minutes. Used a little windex to clean up the oil, and I was good to go. Awesome! Thanks so much!

Anonymous Anonymous said...
Just a word of warning... repeated use of glass cleaners can cause an LCD/Plasma screen to discolour and turn milky.

Anonymous Anonymous said...
Wow...I am so glad I found this. My little artist in training just drew a wonderful masterpiece all my 42" LCD tv. Naturally, the first thing I did was flip out! After I calmed down, I tried cleaning it off with just water, that didn't work so I figured there must be SOMEONE who would know what to clean it with. Good thing to know there is yet another use for peanut oil. And I can say as of tomorrow, tv is going up higher. Thanks for the info! And definitely NO. MORE. CRAYONS!

Blogger radio8008 said...
Thank You thank you thank you!!! I freaked when I saw the crayon all over my 42". this worked like a charm!

P.S. I fired that babysiter

Anonymous Anonymous said...
Thanks for the post. My three year old colored our lcd with lipstick! But I only had vegetable oil in the house, so I tried it. It did the trick!!! Our tv looks brand new again.

Anonymous Anonymous said...
my 2 1/2 year old showed her coloring skills on my LCD screen...... warm olive oil did the trick...... thanks a bunch!!

Anonymous Anonymous said...
worked like a charm! thanks!!

Anonymous Lance Vartanian said...
I'm so glad to hear that you were able to remove the marks of crayons on your TV. However, if you will take away the crayons from your child, it might hinder his creativity. I suggest that you buy a higher deck for your TV, so your child won't be able to reach it.


Anonymous Anonymous said...
Yeah today my 2 year old son wanted to color on our 55 in tv today. I kind of got it where you can't see it if you are far away from it, so hopefully he won't see it so I can get the rest off. unless I tell him what happen. he will not like it that's for sure. thank you a lot for letting us having this trick.

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