As we wile away our summer days, we have become increasingly aware that numerous activities are needed to entertain children during the summer months! My two year old bounces from activity to activity every few minutes. So I decided to shake things up using one of our tried and true summer activites: sidewalk chalk. I love sidewalk chalk.
You can draw. You can make games like four square, hopskotch, cat and mouse trails, and obstacle courses. You can play matching games like a big worksheet, do spelling and letters, math, and even draw enormous maps. Many of these things don’t work for two year olds though. Plus, after the chalk gets too little she doesn’t like to use it anymore since her toddler fingers can’t grasp the chalk.
I took all my broken pieces of chalk and ground them up. I then added a bit of water to make a watery paint. Add a bit of corn starch if it is too runny. Don’t have extra chalk? Just mix cornstarch, about 10 drops of food coloring and a bit of water for a completely homemade version! It was great to have another summer art activity that was easy to clean up off the sidewalk in another medium! We dipped sponges cut in different shapes into the “paint” to make houses, animals etc. 
We practiced colors and shapes while having fun. We have done it a number of times now by letting the paste dehydrate and then adding a bit of water when we wanted to paint again. It was great fun and repurposed our old chalk!
