Get out the Sidewalk Chalk! Coloring with sidewalk chalk is a great way to get outside, have fun and it’s good for your brain. Coloring reduces stress and anxiety and has the ability to relax the fear center of your brain, the amygdala. Sidewalk chalk activities through coloring are also helpful to work on hand strength and fine motor skills. Coloring can encourage creativity and self-expression, and it takes a lot of focusing skills to complete sidewalk coloring activities and tasks. So, even though it looks like kids are having fun and just coloring sidewalk chalk activities, they’re also working on many skills!
Outdoor Chalk Games
Squiggle Line – This is where you draw a line, and each person takes a turn adding something to the drawing. This encourages skills such as working together, cooperation, taking turns and creativity. It’s fun to see what the sidewalk chalk activity shape is. Children love doing things with their parents, which promotes a fun, feel-good moment to create something together.
Chalk Art Mosaic – For this activity, you will need painter’s or masking tape and chalk. You can do it on your driveway or your garage door. (Don’t worry, the rain will wash it away.) Find a design or a word and then begin taping it up in different shapes and designs. It’s time then for your kids to start coloring the sidewalk chalk activity shapes. Once done, take off the tape, and you will have a beautiful mosaic picture. “Dylan and Jackson Ambrose” Courtesy of Nicole Ambrose
Dots and Lines Game – Remember the dots and lines game we used to play as a kid? You create a bunch of dots in a square grid. Then, each person takes a turn connecting two dots with a line. Once you have created a square with your lines, you can put your initials in the box. Once there are no more dots to connect, the person with the most boxes with their initial in it wins. This outdoor chalk game takes planning, focus, concentration, strategy and healthy competition.
Active things to do with Chalk:
Bike or Scooter Maze – Draw a maze on your driveway or street creating a path with different stops or places to go. You can work on regulation and self-control skills by timing them as they ride through the maze and if they go out of the maze they have to start over. This helps kids slow down, focus and concentrate to make sure they are completing the sidewalk chalk activity maze correctly.
Long Jump – Get some measuring tape and measure up to 12 feet and mark it with the chalk. (For younger children you can start with a smaller distance and increase). Children love having competitions against others and themselves. This creates a sense of mastery and self-confidence. Have your child work on it each day and see how they improve. You can chart it and see their improvements over time. This encourages mastery, planning and self-control through this sidewalk chalk activity.
For more outside sidewalk chalk activities and fun things you can do with chalk ideas check out our Pinterest Page.