I Covered My Toilet with Marker — and the Reason Is So Clever

My mother did an amazing job of teaching me and my siblings how to keep a home clean. Not only did she pass on so many smart tips and tricks (like having us scrub the kitchen sink every night to teaching us postage stamp vacuuming), but she also showed by example how important it is to teach my own kids how to keep their spaces clean.

My kids have regular chores we keep track of on our beloved Skylight calendar, but I also take every opportunity I can to show them what I want them to know about cleaning. When I saw a brilliant toilet-cleaning hack in an Instagram Reel posted by creator Jayne Ann Osborne, I knew it was the perfect way to teach my youngest kids (ages 9 and 7) how to clean a toilet. 

Osborne’s instructional technique involves first cleaning the toilet and then scribbling all over it with a dry erase marker. Then, the kids take damp rags and wipe all the marker scribbles off. It’s a game, so it’s automatically way more fun than a chore they have to do, and hunting for the marker lines causes them to find every hidden spot that needs attention on a toilet. 

I don’t usually have my young children clean toilets because the task is so dirty, but this trick helps them practice cleaning all the nooks and crannies of a toilet without being overly exposed to germs and grime. That way, when they’re old enough to take this task on, they’ll be well-versed in how to do it. 

As instructed, my husband and I cleaned the toilet and then he drew all over it with a dry erase marker. We called the kids in and, right away, the novelty of seeing scribbles on the toilet piqued their interest. They were excited to look for all the marker lines to wipe them off, and they did great at seeking out the tricky spots to make sure they got them all (under the seat, around the hinges, on the base, etc.). 

A couple things we noticed: The kids were exuberant about wiping off the maker, and we had to make sure they didn’t scrub the toilet tank lid too hard. My husband was worried it might crack! I also let them discover and wipe down all the marker lines as they found them, but I made sure after they were done to explain to them that when cleaning a dirty toilet for real, it’s very important to start with the cleanest areas on the toilet and then work their way to the dirtiest. Of course, this only teaches them about the outside and lid of the toilet and not the bowl, but it’s still a useful lesson.

There’s one thing to note about this cleaning tutorial before you try it. The marker wiped perfectly clean from the porcelain surfaces of the toilet, but left marks behind on the plastic lid. Osborne recommends using isopropyl alcohol if this happens, and a Magic Eraser got most of it off in our case. 

We need to buy a new toilet seat and lid anyway because the seat has a small crack in it. But if you try this hack yourself, be forewarned that the dry erase marker could leave behind some stains. The next time I try this little cleaning game, I’ll use dry erase chalk markers, which are supposed to be better for the plastic surfaces (if cleaned off immediately).

It was probably more fun for the kids than it was for us, but I loved watching them actually enjoy “cleaning” the toilet. Overall, I’m so glad we did this toilet-scrubbing lesson with my youngest, who had a blast while learning something valuable, kinetically, about how to clean. This hands-on experiment has me wondering what I should scribble on next for my kids to wipe down: shower tiles? Mirrors? Windows? The fridge?