We buy one box of these a year. And this is why. Five minutes into consuming a bowl full of sugar for breakfast, my 2 year old was sitting on the table.
A sugar high, huh!? I like your chalkboard wall behind the kids. Is this a real chalkboard or paint? Wish we'd had the paint hen our kids were growing up.
@aglennc@tracys It's paint! But at the last minute I couldn't commit to painting an entire kitchen wall black, so I bought a 1/8" thick piece of hardboard (like the pegboard material minus the holes) and painted that instead. Nearly two years later we still haven't put anything under it as a chalk tray (that's why we left the gap over the chair rail). I even painted the light switch cover with the chalkboard paint. :)
@tracys I hadn't either before this project, but it had the advantage over plywood because it was lighter and smoother - you need as smooth a surface as you can get for a chalkboard. I just had them cut it to the size I wanted at Home Depot - the first two cuts are free. I like that it's separate from the wall, as it could really use another coat of paint one of these days (washable crayon is not so washable on chalkboard paint) and I can just take it down and re-paint it in the garage rather than having to mess around painting the wall behind our breakfast table. I do feel like it never really gets 100% erased and clean, but it's held up better than I expected and we're happy we did it!
I like your idea. I would not have wanted one whole wall black either. I'm going to pass your idea along to our two grandkids -- who each have a daughter! (Yes, we're great grandparents!)