Kid’s Plates Made with Permanent Marker

My boys have had A LOT of days off of school this month.  I’m not sure what the different reasons were but we have been spending a lot of time together.  A few months ago I picked up some plates at the dollar store to save for a time when we needed an easy project to pass the time.  Did you know that you can decorate plates with Sharpies or Ceramic pens and bake them and that the color remains permanently?  I bought a pack of colored permanent markers and the boys went to work making their own plates. (For best results use Ceramic or Porcelain 150 pens. The Sharpies will work but the color will eventually fade.)

Here are some of our finished creations:

The boys must have been feeling extra patriotic since we had just got home from the Veteran’s Day parade so they made fighter jets and a Bald Eagle.

To make the marker stay permanently, bake plates at 350° for 30 minutes and let cool while in the oven.  I have seen different websites saying to bake them at lower temps for 30 mins but that didn’t work for us and the marker was rubbing off. But 350 seemed to work fine. Also, these are not dishwasher safe so if you are giving them as a gift make sure you let them know to wash by hand.