Chalk Dust Art

Recently we were playing with sidewalk chalk and I noticed
it  sure does make a lot of dust,
we should play with the dust.
So that's exactly what we did!

I decided to turn this into a color mixing activity as well as a shape activity
Start with the 3 primary colors
make sure you press really hard,
you WANT to make dust,
layer another color on top.
You know
...red and yellow...
...red and blue...
...blue and yellow...
I set out plastic forks, spoons and knives
 for the girls to play with.
Forks made lovely lines in the dust,
just like a zen garden
C's tool of choice was a plastic Play-Doh knife
You can make whatever designs you like
then 
just rake them out and start over again!
The red and yellow weren't mixing well enough in my opinion,
 so I added more yellow
The more you play with the dust,
 the better it mixes together
We experimented with making prints in the raked dust
it makes a really neat 3-dimensional effect
I knew it was time to begin cleaning up when the girls started smearing the chalk
all over themselves
Just wash it all away
The mixed colors really show up when water is added
and since the kids are already going to need a bath
let them splash around a little
:)

13 comments:

  1. citysightsforkidsTuesday, August 16, 2023

    Looks like fun, especially the splashing around in those rich colors created by the water. Great photographs too - I love how you captured the texture.

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  2. We LOVE Chalk Dust! I just posted a picture the other day of the girls here making chalk dust tracings. They use a popsicle stick to 'file' the chalk. As the file happily away, the chalk dust falls, covering everything. They discovered that if one of them puts their hand on the ground, and the other files the chalk above the hand, they're left with a hand outline when they're finished. Another great thing to do with all that chalk dust before you hose it away is to give them paintbrushes and a cup of water. The colours mix and smear around and look like pastels. It's beautiful.
    I'm off to check out more of your blog now!

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  3. Art For Little HandsWednesday, August 17, 2023

    That is so fun. I love drawing in textures on it. And I bet the washing away part was just as fun.

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  4. Thanks for the comments everyone!
    Jackie, those are great ideas! I love the idea of the negative art, it would be a great opportunity to introduce early cave art

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  5. Lovely shapes and colours. As we don't have any terrace or backyard, Ii think we can go to the park and have some fun there. I'll post our experience on our blog if we finally do it (as I hope).

    Thanks for sharing!
    :)

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  6. Jena @ HappyLittleMessesFriday, September 16, 2023

    ooooo, ahhhhhh,ohohohohohoh. this looks like SOOO much fun!!!

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  7. Absolutely brilliant idea. As soon as it stops raining goblin and I are doing this activity

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  8. Chrissy @ The Outlaw Mom BlogWednesday, March 14, 2023

    In. Credible. LOVE this. Not a very interesting comment, I know, but that's what I thought when I went through the post :-)

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Chrissy!

      Delete
  9. Ann @ My Nearest and DearestTuesday, January 22, 2023

    This is genius! LOVE it! Pinning to try in the summer.

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  10. I think I love absolutely everything you do!!!!

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  11. Another thing you can do with chalk dust is add it to water in a container. It floats. Place paper on top and lift. It gives a marbled effect.

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