My kids love to play and create with chalk! And so do I. It’s an easy, imaginative, affordable, and colorful medium. And there are so many creative ways to use it.
So, what can you make with chalk? We do a lot of basic drawing: race courses, cars, kitty cats, numbers, and letters. And we love basic drawing. But sometimes it’s fun to switch it up.
Here are 7 imaginative and easy chalk art ideas to enliven your drawing sessions.
1. Nature Art
Everything looks lovely layered with flowers, rocks, sticks, leaves and other items from the garden and yard. Seasonal and holiday nature chalk art drawings are really fun too!
Nature Mandalas
Rainbows
Animals
Really there are endless ideas to explore with nature and chalk. Check out this entire blog post on How to Create Beautiful Nature Chalk Art for more ideas and inspiration.
2. Fairy Houses
Chalk art fairy houses are the perfect alternative to building a fairy house in the garden bed.
Just take a terra-cotta pot (or even a small cardboard box!), turn it upside down, draw a door and windows with chalk and then decorate with flowers and more.
This particular day, we made a fairy hopscotch for our pretend succulent fairies.
3. Games
Another fun chalk art idea is to create a board game! My kids love games (even if they have a flexible approach to following the rules).
This particular backyard chalk art game was a hit! There were some very specific and confusing rules about when each Daniel Tiger character got to move, but it was a lot of fun to create together.
You can make an outdoor version of a favorite board game or create a new game. You could even do a large scale game and use the kids as the moving pieces.
As my kids get older, we’ve had fun experimenting with reading/matching games using chalk and solving math problems using chalk and items found in nature too!
Labyrinth
More of a meditative exercise than a game, these chalk and nature labyrinth drawings are really fun. Kids love tracing their fingers along the pathway and practicing taking a deep breath in the center.
4. Blue Tape and Chalk Mosaics
For this activity, you need a roll of blue painting tape. Tape down lines, shapes and patterns and then color it all in with chalk. Remove the tape to reveal your mosaic.
Chalk Mosaic
My oldest had so much fun creating the design and taping everything down. And the reveal was really magical.
The blue tape adds a layer of fun and there’s a bit of mystery about what the finished product will look like.
Chalk Houses with Blue Tape
We also like to play “chalk house” using the blue tape method.
On this particular day, the kids and I created a “mouse house” for the little mouse from one of their favorite books, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. Each section was a different room.
And all the colors were vibrant and beautiful! You’ll notice a few flowers were brought into the mix too. We all loved this chalk art creation and it was really easy to make.
5. Vertical Wall Drawings
Taking the chalk onto a vertical yard wall is a fun way to switch up a chalk session. For us, it has inspired tip toe reaches, racecourses, name writing practice, and a lot of rainbows.
6. Pinecone Chalk Art
You can even draw on items found in nature. We love drawing on pinecones, rocks, even sticks. The contrast of earthy colors with pastel chalk is beautiful!
For this method, it’s best to dip the chalk in water first to get better application.
If you have a really large branch, these larger scale chalk nature paintings are a lot of fun too.
7. Chalk Art Water Paintings
Fair warning, if you have young children, water will likely get dumped everywhere with this method. And it’s not ideal if you’re worried about drawings being accidentally erased. But, it is worth the wet mess.
Grab a few paint brushes and a cup or bucket of water. Dip your brush in the water and paint onto the chalk lines. The result is dreamy.
This method is also a wonderful way for toddlers to experiment with paintbrushes in a low stress way.
This is one of my personal favorite ways to play with chalk. It is relaxing to watch the water dry and fun to see the way the chalk almost melts as you paint it.
Imaginative Chalk Supplies
- Sidewalk Chalk – What kind of chalk is used for chalk art? Any sidewalk chalk will do, but we especially love Crayola chalk. It has such bright pigments and the consistency is really smooth. Blick Art Supplies has great prices on sidewalk chalk and fun new varieties like neon, glitter, and more! Crayola drawing chalk is also great for drawing on paper and sidewalks too. It has incredibly rich hues but is more brittle and doesn’t wash out as easily. I personally love drawing with this chalk.
- Items found in nature: rocks, flowers, leaves, pinecones, sticks
- Paintbrushes and water
- Blue painter’s tape
- Terracotta pots or cardboard boxes
- Toy figures, cars, or game pieces
More Outdoor Fun
If you enjoy outdoor, nature-inspired creations, be sure to check out my post on setting up a Flower Tea Party for Kids!
What Will You Create?
If you try any of these chalk art ideas, please share your pictures with us. We’d love to see what you create!
