Chalk, water and Paintbrushes

I am always on the look out for new things my kids can do outside. Living in North West Montana we don’t get many months of nice weather so when a good day comes we tend jump at the chance and stay out of the house as long as possible. So, when one of my friends posted a picture of her daughter painting outside I jumped in and asked what she was using. She told me “sidewalk chalk paint”. Now, I have seen numerous recipes for that on pinterest. All of them had an ingredient that I don’t stock in my house anymore, artificial dye.I was dreading her answer when I asked what she used to make it. And then she told me it was just chalk dust and water. I can handle that! Ihave a ton of chalk and if I run out the $1 store carries it. So I gathered my tools and got started.

This was a fun project because my kids could help me get it ready and then just enjoy all the fun that their hard work brought.The first step is to grate the chalk with the fine side of your box grater or a little hand held one like I used. It will be come a fine dust like this.Then you add the water and mix it till you get the consistency that you want.

I found out the hard way that to much water will make it really runny and the color won’t be a vibrant. Leaving it a little thick, like actual paint, lends more to getting really good paint color on the ground.With it being a little thicker you can get good colors like this

Ingredients needs~

1. Muffin tin
2. Fine grator
3. Chalk
4. Water
5. Paint Brushes

This was an activity that kept my kids entertained for over an hour. They practiced their shapes, talked about colors, figured out that painting each other was not the best idea. It helped the fire fighter work on his fine motor skills and allowed the princess to actually paint. This is something that my kids have been waking up every morning this week asking to do it again.