We bought an easel when the first toddler drew on the walls. The chalk board sucked, but the paper side was well used. The best advantage to the easel over a whiteboard is removed when the kids are old enough to ensure the caps are back on the markers. (the last thing I want to do is check to see if the caps are on). Crayons on paper are a lot easier to control, but ugh, all that paper…that they can’t tear off and replace themselves…
Whitebaord markers dry out. A great lesson for the wee ones in maintaining their own things. Didn’t put the cap on the red last time? Looks like there’s no red for you this time. (ours are 3 and 5, the caps always go back on now…well, ‘always’.)
The whiteboard has had many letter games, tic tac toe games, and all sorts of pictures set up for them in the morning (which caused me to search youtube for ‘how to draw characters’. (I suck at it, but they don’t realize it yet!). It has little dots on it in a grid pattern which have many advantages down the unschooling road for sure.
