We made some SUPER easy Sidewalk Chalk Paint the other day when the summer “boredom” hit.
Pin It
I have seen this all over the net and we finally got around to making it. We simply took 1/4 cup of cold water and mixed in a 1/4 cup of cornstarch. Then we added a **small** amount of food coloring to give it a little bit of color.
*(Do not add a lot of food coloring…after washing the green paint off the sidewalk, I noticed it left a very light stain behind…so use food coloring at your own risk)!
But other than that…it really entertained the kids for quite a while. We even ended up making another round of paint after they exhausted the first ones.
The paints looked really great when they dried. The cornstarch shows up and the paint has a chalky look to it. We will definitely be doing this again. I also would not recommend using the foam brushes like we did. Next time we will use the cheap paint brushes. The foam brushes were getting pretty ripped up from the rough surface of the cement.
JOIN OUR NEWSLETTER
Would you like more Recipes, DIY, Printables and Organization Ideas?
Subscribing to the newsletter will enable us to periodically send you creative content exclusively for Idea Room subscribers.
*View our Privacy Policy here.
Decorchick! says
Sooo cool! I haven't seen that yet! I bet they had fun. :) They sure are cuties!!
Here I am wondering what I am going to do with the kids tomorrow. Problem solved! Just curious..does the coloring stain their clothes at all?
That is such a fun idea! My 5 year old loves to go outside with sidewalk chalk and color in the rain so the chalk runs together. I am sure she will love this!
Beautiful pictures too!
XOOX
Jen
What a great idea! My daughter would love this!
I want to do this for the Littles. I think I'll do it soon. Thanks for reminding me of the recipe! The girls looked like they loved it!
we did this not too long ago and my Dad let the kids use the paints on his car! I think I posted pictures on my blog. It did wash right off though!
Perfect for my little toddler guy. He tried to eat anything shaped like a crayon, marker, pen, well actually he eats anything and he will probably try and eat the paint brush, but that's that's part of being a kid, right?
This is great!!! I have been following your blog for a couple of months and I love your ideas!
I have older girls but they still love to craft. This will be another great craft to do with our neighbors…how colorful can we get the sidewalks?
So easy and fun! Thanks for sharing.
great idea! i think i am gonna do this one when my hubby is away on business to keep the kids busy.
This is a great idea! The kids always need something fun to do in the Summer and this will certainly fit the bill! I can see the whole neighborhood getting in on this!
http://scrapbook-oasis.com/
This is a really neat idea! I actually have not seen it before, thank you!
Also I wanted to leave you this:
http://xsurvivingmotherhoodx.blogspot.com/2010/07/sunshine-blog-award.html
ooohhh, i have never heard of this idea. pretty cool! By the way, I love the "hair do" on the little blonde girl. (is she your daughter?) Looks like it is twisted and held down with a hair clip..can't really tell. so sweet!
Just posted our version of this over at Kids Stuff World, I linked back here about the food coloring staining the sidewalk (thanks for the tip)
AWESOME…my 3 year old will love this! Thanks for sharing :D
Thanks for sharing this! Would love for you to come join our Summer Fun Fest Linky Party on Monday! Visiting from TT&J
Total awesomeness.
I can not buy enough side walk chalk for my kids! Great idea!
Hi,
Thanks for a great idea! I’d like to use it at school with my first graders during the last week of school, but I need to know if the food coloring stains clothes: don’t want a bunch of angry moms!
We must try this on the streets of Chicago ! I wonder if we will get in t rouble ?
It washes right away in the rain! I’ve done it before and wanted to see this recipe.
I hope you don’t mind that I linked to this on my blog, just-me-and-t.blogspot.com You are so clever! I love everything you do.
Maybe use Tempra instead of food colouring to avoid the staining?!
Actually there’s no stain!!! And it washes away in the rain, it dries just like normal chalk.
My daughter really liked this paint. I too do not like the foam brushes. I would suggest something like the big poster brushes. Here are some pics http://bourg.info/2012/04/23/sidewalk-chalk-paint/
~Love!! so much cool stuff on this blog:):):)
Tried this today with my boys, ages 6 and 9 and they really enjoyed it! The colours were quite vibrant once dried. Word of advice, separate the colours into 2 different muffin tins. My boys had to stay pretty close to each other in order to use the paints, thus competing for sidewalk space. Would have been nice if they could have had a bit more area to themselves.
Did this today with my three year old. Use tempera paint it didn’t stain. She loved it.
Oh great feedback! Thanks Christina! So glad you guys had fun with it. It is still one of our most requested activities for my kids!
If you add a drop or 2 of washing up/dish washing liquid that will stop the food colouring from staining :)
I wonder if Wilton coloring would be better? I use that for making bath bombs and the color doesn’t stain the tub (although it turns the entire bath tube the color of the bath bomb… which is quite cool!!) . Love this idea… great for Halloween sidewalk ideas (ie., “ghost” footprints, body outlines, etc.).
How fun!
…Sharing on my FB page :)
What a fab idea! I’m going to try this with my children at the weekend, can’t wait, they’ll think it’s awesome!
Another way to entertain the troops this summer
I am helping with a 5k and can’t paint on the road. I searched for ideas to use as substitutes for actual paint and came across this one. I will try it this evening and let you know how it goes!!
Can you use cornflour in stead if have got strarch?
I personally have not tried it. All you really need is just a thicker paste and the cornstarch provides that. You could test just a very small batch and slowly add water till you get a consistency that you are happy with. Good Luck!