Kids love the idea of making their own chalkboard!
You will need:
- Construction paper
- Tempera paint (we used black)
- Chalk
- Paintbrush
- Paper towel
Good to have:
- Hairdryer
The Project:
Paint the entire piece of construction paper with a layer of paint and let it dry. Rub the dry paint with the side of a piece of white chalk, covering the whole sheet of paper evenly and then rub it in (erase it) with the paper towel; this will coat the paint with a layer of chalk and treat it to behave like a chalkboard. Your ‘chalkboard’ will remain chalky, which is exactly what you want. Get out your fun colored chalk and color away!
Tips:
- You can repeat the chalk rub when the drawings start to become difficult to erase (about every third or fourth picture sometimes).
- It works well enough if you skip the paint and just use plain construction paper (you still need to treat it by rubbing the side of a piece of chalk on it first), but I really prefer to give the paper a basecoat of paint.
- This would be a great way to re-use an old painting; just rub it down, wipe it off, and color away!
- I am impatient, so I use my poor hairdryer to speed up the paint’s drying process. My son loves to dry anything with the noisy blow drier!
- We hung ours on the fridge, but you could probably glue one to a piece of smooth cardboard (it would probably last longer, too!) and even keep it in the car.
- I also tried this project on foam paper, and did not like it. The paint wouldn’t stick (it flaked off after it was dry) and the chalk didn’t color the paper as well as it does on construction paper.
