If you're a parent to a kid who loves to draw and color with markers, you probably know the stress of them drying out. No matter how many times you tell your kiddos to make sure they're putting the caps back on (and not just on, but making sure they hear the "click" to know they're secure) they only do half the time. Then you've got an upset kid with nothing to color with. And then you have more dried out marker than you know what to do with. For many of us parents, it's frustrating to constantly throw away dried marker But here's a brilliant hack to make it better; you can turn your kids' dried out markers into watercolor paints.

By doing this, you're not only re-purposing the now dead markers, you're giving them another art supply. And come on, what kid (and adult) doesn't like watercolor paints? They're so much easier to use and clean up. Cleaning up the water spill is a lot easier than cleaning up spill tempera or acrylic paints. Watercolors are especially good for younger kids who are just learning how to express themselves with paint. You don't have to hover over them, waiting for the inevitable mess to come.

So, how do you do this exactly? It cannot be any easier, just soak the ink tips in water. The hack comes from an art teacher in Tennessee. She cannot afford new supplies during the school year, so she came up with this idea. You don't have to use anything fancy to put the markers in; a large pickle jar would work. It just needs to be something big enough that you can fit the marker in and be able to close it. And it should be a glass jar, plastic would be ruined/stained. If you don't have a tall enough jar, you can use a set of pliers to pop the end off the marker and pull out the ink cartridge.

RELATED: Donate Old & Dried-Out Markers To Crayola's Free Recycling Program

Obviously, the longer you let the marker soak, the stronger the color is going to be. It's also smarter to wait until you have more than a few of the same color. They don't have to be the same brand, but unless you want to get creative on shades, you should the reds together for potency purposes. Just make sure you're putting them in a container with an airtight lid and they should last you for a while! Then you're saving the planet and being crafty while doing so!