Sidewalk Chalk Painting

With all the Spring toys hitting the stores, I find myself gazing longingly at new packages of brightly colored chalk. I force myself to resist their sirens knowing that we have a whole bucket full of chalk at home.

Of course, that led me to stewing on how to use up all this chalk we already have. I mean, simple drawing is fine, but it's not gonna get me a fresh shiny box with the new *BRIGHTER* colors.

Inspiration struck: chalk + water = chalk paint

This not only provides more vibrant creations, but it uses up the old stuff really, really quickly.

I started out thinking Linus and I would work together to pulverize our chalk into dust then mix it with water, but quickly realized that using only toddler-safe tools would lead to an eternity of preparation.

Instead, we just splattered a little water on the sidewalk and then scribbled in the puddle. We also found dipping the chalk into a cup of water sped the process up nicely.

So once our method was perfected, we started painting.

Not only were the colors bolder but using paint brushes created sharper lines and more precise detailing. Of course, Linus just liked having excuse to pour water everywhere.

(This activity would also be great between the showers on a rainy Spring day.)