11 Preschool Sidewalk Chalk Art Ideas for Indoor & Outdoor Play!
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Children learn from activities that get their creative mind going. Sidewalk chalk lets children explore the medium of chalk and how it relates to other types of coloring. From activities done in the classroom on paper to the canvas the sidewalk provides outdoors, there is no limit to what preschoolers can create.

Indoor Sidewalk Chalk Art Ideas

Drawing on Black Paper: Give the class black paper and chalk and have each student make her own creation. When they are done with their pictures, the teacher sprays the picture with aerosol hair spray to seal the chalk from smudging. Note: Fluorescent chalk is a fun alternative to standard chalk.

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Painting with Chalk: In small cups, mix a little water with some kids finger paint. Give each student a piece of chalk to dip in the paint and create a picture on paper. Dark colored paper may work best for this art activity. The finished picture will look like a combination of chalk and watercolor. Upon drying, spray with aerosol hair spray.

Crushed Chalk Picture: The teacher should prepare for this activity by crushing a variety of colors of chalk. Give each student a piece of construction paper, some liquid glue and pieces of crushed chalk. Have them make a creative design on the paper with glue and sprinkle the crushed chalk to complete the picture. You may also provide cookie cutters for the kids to dip in glue and make shapes. Allow to dry or use hairspray to help it dry quicker.

Class Theme Drawing on Chalkboard: Brainstorm with the class ideas for drawing a picture on the chalkboard to represent the class theme. Have the students work together to create the drawing across the chalkboard and then explain what they drew.

Outdoor Sidewalk Chalk Art Ideas

Tracing Body Outline: The teacher can help the students trace their outline in chalk. First, have the student lie down on the sidewalk and straighten his arms and legs. Trace around the child’s body. Then have him draw on a face, hair, clothes, shoes, etc.

Tracing body

Chalk Rubbings: Give each student a sheet of paper and a piece of chalk. Take a walk around the preschool playground and look for interesting textures and shapes. When you find something, show them how to make a rubbing of it by laying the sheet of paper over the object and rubbing the side of the chalk along the surface. Ideas of surfaces to rub are a brick, pavement, signage, tile, flat rocks and leaves. Encourage the students to find some objects on their own. Upon returning to the classroom, spray the pictures with hairspray to prevent smudging.

Drawing a Mural: Divide the sidewalk into squares for each student to draw a mural. If wanted, the teacher can give a general theme for the class to draw around, such as, their favorite thing to do, what they like most about school, to draw their family, etc. Once they are finished, have each student take turns sharing what they drew.

Creating a City: Help the students draw a city with buildings and roads to drive on. The roads can have bends and turns. They could draw familiar buildings, such as, their home, school, local playground, grocery store and doctor’s office. This could really get their creative juices flowing.

More Chalk Activities

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Although these activities may not fit into the category of toddler sidewalk chalk art, they will help kids better learn their alphabet, numbers and expand their creativity.

Alphabet Walk: Draw the alphabet letters in a line for the class to walk on as they sing the alphabet song. This helps teach letter recognition.

Hopscotch/Numbers: Hopscotch is a fun way to follow the order of numbers as the student jumps from one to 10. A simpler version is to draw circles with numbers 1 through 10 or 1 through 20. The class can count as they jump along.

Treasure Map: The students can draw a pretend treasure map that leads around the playground and put an “X” for the pretend treasure spot. Another version is for the teacher to write clues outside in chalk before school starts and have the class to follow each clue until they find the treasure.

Sources

Activity Ideas: Personal experience

Savvy Source: Art, Chalk - https://www.savvysource.com/activities/activity_bt_255_786_crushed-chalk-art-work

Photos: Deborah Walstad