Chalk art in the adult world can be really awesome. There are artists that make the most amazing creations on sidewalks that are so magnificent it’s a real pity that the rain washes it away for example take a look at this image of snoopy and friends .
The chalk art activities that I have for you here are a little bit less ambitious for kids. Children like to try various materials without needing to make masterpieces. Aside from using it to color with, the nature of the chalk also allows it to be grated so that it creates a sand like substance. Some of the activities include using the chalk for sand art activities as well.
Below are 7 different activities you can do with chalk when you have a bucketful and want to give the kids a bit of direction.
- Use it outside as it’s sidewalk chalk. Get hold of the thick, colorful pieces of chalk Giant Sidewalk Chalk called sidewalk chalk that have lots of colors included. The chalk often comes in a bucket. On a nice day allow the children to go outdoors and color all over the asphalt, sidewalk or any other area that will be easily cleaned up, either by rain or by hosing down with a garden hose.
- Transfer chalk drawings to paper: If the children express an interest in saving some of their chalk drawings or even if they don’t you can offer them paper to color on with the chalk . Black or other dark construction paper is often more striking than plain manila or white. Once the children are done you will need to spray the drawings with hairspray as this helps set the chalk. It is very important that you only use the hairspray outdoors and do not let the children do it. The spraying should be for adults only.
- Create a solution of 1/3 c. sugar to 1 cup water. Have the children dip their pieces of chalk into this solution before drawing with the chalk on their papers. This helps brighten the chalk colors and will also help reduce smearing.Using hairspray will work with this activity also.
- This time around, make the paper wet first and then give the children dry chalk. Have them use dry chalk on wet paper. You can experiment by giving he children different types of paper wetting each of them before drawing. The best way to make the paper wet is to fill up a rectangular basin with water and lift the papers in and out of it.
- Instead of making the paper wet with water, give the children paintbrushes and liquid starch and have them paint the paper with the liquid starch.Use the chalk to color over the paper with the starch on it. (This also brighten chalk colors and helps reduce smudging.)
- Sand art: Chalk is great for creating sand art. The children can be given a hand grater and along with an adults careful supervision, grate the different color chalk into separate bowls. Once you have enough chalk you can do 2 different types of sand art. Firstly you have the children use a paintbrush and paint some glue onto a blank sheet of paper. They can then take different colors chalk and sprinkle them where they want to crate a beautiful sand art. They can get really creative by making various shapes and borders with their glue.
- A second sand art activity is to give children small jars and arrange the different colored chalk in layers to create a sand art bottle. Just be aware that you need a lot more sand (chalk) for this sand art activity that you do for the first.
In the picture below the children are creating sand art by rubbing the chalk very hard on the sidewalk. They then scooped up the sand they created from the chalk and used it for their projects.
Below you can see 5 bowls of chalk that has been collected for these sand art projects. You can make as many colors as there are chalk colors and you can even mix colors.
Below are some samples of what some children with one of the chalk art activities. They put glue on their paper in various patterns and then sprinkled the grated chalk over the glue.
The image below is what happens when a child want to do some drawing on her own and add the chalk to her picture when she is done with the drawing.
If the children get really inspired about using the chalk as real sand then there is this rally cool website that is dedicated to sand art castles. They make the most amazing structures out of sand and its worth while showing some of those pictures to the kids.
If you want to get really ambitious I found someone who makes homemade sidewalk chalk. It’s a fun activity and it’s another way to add a different dimension to the chalk art activities.
You can buy a Bucket of Crayola Sidewalk Chalk or you can buy especially Giant Sidewalk Chalk for little hands to grasp. It is much easier for young children to color and use the chalk when it is of the larger variety.
How have you used chalk with your kids? Anything unusual?