colors, and oils from their crayons, pens, paints, etc, may stain. even with your sealer. if not wiped up immediately, it could permanently stain the marble. Is there no other table they could play on? doing their homework should be ok, but painting, play doh,,,may be pushing your luck.

what about a nice quartzite? some look like the marble, but are stronger than granite and, depending which kind you get, can hold up better to stains.

Super White looks like a marble, but is a Dolomite. marbles cousin. i have it in my bathroom and it's held up very well. no etching or staining.

I would do the marble since you already understand the patina issue. IMO water colors will not be a problem the only thing would be indelible markersand they should be never allowed anywhere IMHO.Kids use the counters for all kinds of things in Italy and I still think they are one of my favorite choices for counters.

Life's a bunch of choices.........play doh is dyed goo. What else do we need to know? If it is hard to get out of clothes............

A Play-Doh or Silly Putty stain is hard to remove, but it's not the only tough stain out there. Modeling clay and regular clay stains can also pose stain-removal problems. The good news is that Tide can tackle the toughest laundry challenges.

We went with marble on our island. I cook with a lot of stain-producing things and my husband is forgetful about wiping things up, but our sealant is better than the sealants of the old days, as we have nary a stain. However....we have two scratches on the marble (one left by a plumber and the other by a painter...sigh). So consider other types of damage besides stains you may have/will have with marble. Having said that, I am probably the only person who notices those scratches, and I love, love, love our bianco venato counter and would do it all again in a heartbeat. As you said, it comes down to whether you can embrace the patina or not. Mind you, when I do any crafting projects in my open-style kitchen-dining room, I do put a table protector on the island. I'm willing to embrace patina, too, but I don't feel a need to accelerate the process! :)

Gloss or matte Stoneguard; the kids will never stain or etch either.

Stoneshine:

I took those pictures at my Stoneguard training in Chicago. We talked about you. lol.

Love it or leave it.