Arts and Crafts at Home: Tips for Easier Cleanup

While paint, glue, permanent marker, and slime are fun materials, they can create not-so-fun messes. Cleaning up after a craft session can be especially challenging when the mess is on your carpet. Let’s review how to remove these materials from your carpet.

How to Remove Paint From Carpet

Acrylic paint is often used for arts and crafts and dries quickly—good for kids' art but bad for carpets. Removing paint from your carpet is easiest when wet because the paint becomes water-resistant when dry. If the paint stain is dry, soak it with warm water until it liquifies. Follow these steps:

• Blot the excess paint using a dry paper towel, switching to a clean section as needed.
• Do not push down or rub the stain, or you'll make it worse.
• Mix warm water and liquid dish soap in a spray bottle and saturate the stain.
• Let the solution break down the stain for 10 minutes.
• Blot the stain with a dry paper towel to remove the paint and soap.
• Switch to a mixture of 1:10 vinegar and water if the stain persists.
• Dampen a sponge with cold water and blot the stain until no more color is lifted.
• Let the carpet air dry, and then vacuum.

If the paint isn't acrylic, you may need more firepower. Paint thinner and acetone will help remove most types of paint, but spot test first and only use small amounts.

How to Remove Craft Glue on Carpet

Removing glue from your carpet while it is still wet is ideal. Be sure to blot the excess with a dry paper towel to prevent it from soaking into the carpet fibers.

• Scrape off excess glue with a butter knife if the stain has dried.
• Wet the glue stain with white vinegar to break down the adhesive bond.
• Let the vinegar soak the stain for about 20 minutes.
• Blot the glue stain with a clean paper towel and let the area dry.
• Cover the glue stain with a clean, dry cloth if you still notice a stain.
• Use a hot iron and iron the cloth until the glue melts and let it soak into the cloth.
• Finish cleaning the stain with warm, soapy water.
• Wipe off the cleaning solution with a dry cloth and let the carpet dry.

Once dry, vacuum the carpet to blend the fibers back into place. If there are still hardened glue bits in the carpet, use eyebrow tweezers to remove them from the fibers.

How to Remove Permanent Marker From Carpet

Most parents try to use kid-friendly glues and paint for arts and crafts at home, but sometimes, kids can take matters into their own hands and find unique ways to make messes. Permanent marker stains on the carpet may seem like the end of the line unless you have the inside scoop on a permanent ink remover. Follow these steps.

• Dampen a sponge with rubbing alcohol and wring it out.
• Blot the ink stain, working from the edges inward to prevent spreading.
• Use a clean part of the sponge when one part is soiled to avoid transferring ink back into the fibers.
• Rinse your sponge if it gets too dirty, and dampen it with alcohol once again before continuing.
• Don't worry about drying the area because the rubbing alcohol will evaporate.

Rubbing alcohol, hair spray, and other alcohol-based products are excellent permanent ink removers that you can use on most fabrics and surfaces. You can use these safe and effective cleaners for ink and other stubborn stains on clothing, linens, and more.

How to Get Kids' Slime Out of Carpet

While kids love to play with slime and make it at home, the gooey, sticky mixture provides hours of fun and, unfortunately, some formidable stains on carpet, clothing, and surfaces. In case you didn't know, most slime is made with glue, coloring, and other ingredients. It's the glue and coloring you'll need to watch out for! As with other materials, the sooner you tackle the slime stain, the easier the process.

• Scrape off excess slime onto a paper towel using a spoon.
• Mix a cup of vinegar and a half cup of water in a spray bottle.
• Spray the slime and the area around it thoroughly.
• Use a nylon scrub brush to break up the slime gently.
• Blot the stain with a white cloth until no more slime is lifted.
• Use rubbing alcohol and a clean, soft brush to remove color stains.
• Blot the stain with a dry paper towel and vacuum.

If you've caught the stain too late and the slime is dry, apply ice and let it freeze for 10 minutes. Break up the slime with the handle of a butter knife, and then follow the cleanup steps from above.

Make Kids' Arts and Crafts Messes More Manageable

If your kids' latest projects leave you rethinking the in-home art studio thing, relax. There's no need to stifle your kids' creativity because things get a little messy! Once you know a few cleaning tips from the pros, you can let the glitter fly and paint splatter without panicking.

Learn how to remove glitter, glue, and even permanent ink stains from carpet, and you won't give those messy activities another thought. Using plastic sheeting or drop cloths on the floor to make arts and crafts at home more fun and cleanup even easier. You can even cover nearby furniture for over-enthusiastic artists!

The truth is, arts and crafts will result in messes, so the easier those messes are to clean, the less stress you'll endure. Whether you use our pro cleaning tips or one of our popular house cleaning services, we're your partner for a cleaner home.

Find out how Molly Maid® can give you a clean house when you get your free estimate today. As part of the Neighborly™ team of home services providers, every Molly Maid service is backed by the Neighborly Done Right Promise™, which promises that it’s done right the first time.