Homemade Sidewalk Chalk {Fun activity for kids}

If your kids are anything like mine they love using chalk! Making pictures or maybe an obstacle course and then erasing it so they can start again. Even my 1 year old loves to color with chalk!

What’s more fun than playing with chalk? Making your own! Let me be clear, this is not a money saving endeavor as you can get chalk pretty inexpensively. This is just a fun activity to do with kids that love to play with chalk.

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Follow these directions to make homemade sidewalk chalk. It will be the large sort that’s perfect for using outside on the ground. Large chalk is also perfect for little hands that are still developing those fine motor skills.

Supplies

Directions are for making one large piece of chalk. If you want to create multiple colors you’ll need a new set of ingredients for each.

• 2 cups plaster of paris
• 2 tablespoons liquid tempera paint
• 1 cup of water
• 1 Cardboard tube (around 4″ long)
• Duct Tape
• Wax paper or parchment paper (cut into 6″ squares)
• Scissors
• Mixing spoon or spatula
• Large Ziploc Bags or piping bags
• Optional: Fun shaped silicone molds

How to make homemade chalk

1 – Before you start any mixing you’ll need to prepare your cardboard tubes.

Seal one end of each tube with duct tape.

Then, line each tube with wax paper or parchment paper so you’ll be able to get your chalk back out of the tube.

2. Now it’s time to start mixing.

In a medium sized bowl or pyrex measuring cup mix together 1 cup of water and 2 tablespoons of tempera paint in the color of your choice.

3. Stir in 2 cups of plaster of paris and mix until it has the consistency of toothpaste.

The mixture should be thick but loose enough to be piped into your tubes.

4. Transfer the mixture to a ziploc bag or piping back. Snip the corner and then pipe the mixture into the cardboard tube.

Gently tap the tube on a table top or the ground to settle the mixture tightly in the tube.

5. Allow your chalk to dry overnight.

6. Carefully remove the cardboard tubing and parchment paper.

If the chalk isn’t completely dry, set it on a wire rack to finish drying before getting crafty with it.

Optional: Want to make fun shapes with your chalk? Transfer your mixture into silicone molds instead of cardboard tubes.

Learning Opportunities

Measuring

This is a great project to do with young kids because it’s fairly simple and uses just a few ingredients. You can easily take the time to show them different sizes of measuring cups and talk to them about different amounts.

Have them help to measure things out and add them to your bowl or container.

Fine Motor Skills

Mixing, Pouring, and stirring are all great for working on those fine motor skills. Just be ready to have some patience for the slow speed and possible mess! Let them help add everything to the bowl, stir it all together, and squeeze the mixture into the cardboard tube!

The real fun in making your own homemade chalk is that they get to participate. They’ll be so excited to see what they created and actually get to use chalk that they’ve made themselves!

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DIY chalk recipe

Thanks for sharing!