Happy Summer! We made it to summer break and everyone is really really happy about it over here. Man, mama and children needed a major break. I’ve been feeling so burnt out. What a relief to sleep in late, not have so many responsibilities and let things unfold at a slower pace than the hustle bustle of the school year. I’ve shared that we’ve been obsessed with soft pastels, oil pastels and chalk over the past few months. I’m so excited to share this evolving chalk wall that my girls recently rocked one afternoon this past week during the witching hour.
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Good old fashioned sidewalk chalk has developed into one of our favorite art supplies. It’s cheap, plentiful and so pretty. We use it all the time on cement, stones in our backyard, and big tree branches I find around the neighborhood. The trick to making chalk super fun is to let your kids dip it in water. Wet chalk is really smooth and vibrant. It has a totally different feel than dry chalk. You can dunk it in a bucket of water, spray it with a spritzer, or just dip it in a shallow bowl of water.
You can see the big contrast between wet and dry chalk in the pic above. The colors are crazy vibrant when they are wet and the chalk goes on really thick. It’s really satisfying for those little hands to “paint” with. The wet chalk will just dry after you set it in the sun and return to normal. So it still lasts and lasts.
You might be wondering why on earth is this mom letting her kids paint all over her door? I get that. I’m not necessarily suggesting you do the same. Our house has sort of evolved into this major kid play space over the years and since we hope to move pretty soon, rules around here have gotten kind of lenient. BUT, you can do this kind of chalk painting on a big piece of watercolor paper, a branch, a big recycled canvas, and any chalkboard.
I’ve found that all sidewalk chalk
pretty much works great. I’m not faithful to a prticular brand. You can pick up a pack at the dollar store and it will work great.
And one of the very best things about sidewalk chalk
is you can take a wet sponge and wash it all off. My girls love this part almost as much. This door won’t stay like this very long but I’m certainly enjoying it for now. It’s the door to our laundry room and it’s made laundry way more inviting, which who knew that was even possible?
Thanks for reading along everyone and if you like this post, try this one next. I think you’ll like it even more. Happy Summer! xo Meri
So gorgeous!!!! I saw it at playgroup and was immediately entranced!
Thanks Ana. Such a treat that you guys come to play group!
This looks fabulous! The sidewalk chalk colors really pop. I am thinking of doing some of this myself and then spraying with a clear fixative/varnish to “set” the colors. Great idea.