When kids are off school for half-term, the biggest challenge for busy parents is to keep their little one's entertained throughout the break - and that often means getting pretty creative. Young attention spans wane easily, and there's only so many times you can kick a ball around the park or bake cookies without wanting to tear your hair out.
One activity that always goes down a treat with artistic kids is letting them loose with crayons, pens and paint to unleash their inner Picasso. A real winner for keeping them occupied, it gives kids time to develop their creativity and doesn't involve any screen time.
It sounds like a win-win, but there's one pitfall of arts and crafts and that's the mess that can swiftly follow. An innocent colouring-in session can quickly turn into chaos if your tots get a bit too liberal with the tools as hand, as felt tip pen scribbles somehow end up on furniture or white walls.
The last thing any parent wants to discover is a David Hockney-esque creation on their child's school shirt, but if you do find yourself in that position, luckily there's a simple trick that lifts felt tip stains near-instantly. It's a trick you'll want to keep in your parenting arsenal for any future accidents, and you won't need to rush out to buy expensive cleaning products either.
To help parents banish unsightly pen stains without spending a fortune, Ava Bardot, a cleaning expert at Beanbags.co.uk, has spilled all on her clever trick - and all you need is a can of hairspray.
The cleaning guru explained: "Simply spray a generous amount of hairspray directly onto the stain, leave it for up to 30 seconds and blot away the ink with a clean damp cloth or paper towel. As you're doing this you should see the ink coming to the surface and transferring onto the cloth."
If you don't have a can of hairspray to hand, or would rather not use your expensive stuff on lifting pesky stains, you can pick up a can for as little as £1 from Savers and Wilko, or £1.50 from Superdrug.
The savvy hack comes as Mrs Hinch fans recently discovered another impressive cleaning trick using another household staple.
Posting to a Facebook group for staunch supports of cleaning sensation Mrs Hinch - real name Mrs Hinchliffe - one woman asked for advice on how to remove tough water stains from a wooden table.
They wrote: "Hi guys, any suggestions on how I can get rid of these white drink marks from this light oak coffee table, please?"
The resounding recommendation in the comments was to use a popular condiment - mayonnaise.
"Mayonnaise", someone wrote, whilst another said: "I've read that mayonnaise works", followed by a shrugging emoji.
It turns out that mayo can oust stains completely, because of its oily properties - and it can be bought from Sainsbury's for just 70p.
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