Incorporating the use of chalk in early childhood activities opens the door to a wide variety of playful, hands-on learning experiences. Chalk is a versatile, affordable material that is a fun addition to many outdoor games and art projects. In this article, we share simple, engaging outdoor chalk activities that support children’s motor skill development, foundational math skills, and creative self-expression.
Drawing with chalk on the sidewalk is a great way to encourage movement in new ways! Chalk can also be used to set up an obstacle course or a classic game like hopscotch, both of which encourage children to practice balancing, moving in different directions, and strengthening muscles that support fine and gross motor skills.
Set up a classic hopscotch game by inviting children to help you draw large, connecting squares that you can mark with numbers the children can count as they hop. Or, try a new twist on the classic game by using different shapes and colors, or by putting letters of the alphabet inside each shape. This creates additional learning opportunities and keeps the game feeling fresh and interesting for little ones. You can create even more variety by alternating between hopping on one foot and jumping with both feet, or by inviting children to shout out the number, letter, or shape they are hopping on!
There are many ways to create an obstacle course using chalk. You can connect the spots in the course with arrows, or change up the way children navigate the course and ask them to try to move between areas by skipping, jumping, crawling, or dancing!
You might also invite the little ones in your care to help you come up with ideas to create the course, draw parts of the course, or suggest course instructions that you can then write down.
When you offer chalk in a wide range of colors and show the children in your care how to use the chalk to make shapes of different sizes, you are introducing them to new vocabulary words and supporting their color and shape recognition skills. Active engagement with shapes is also a fun way for children to become familiar with foundational concepts in math and geometry!
Set up this simple activity by using masking tape to create a geometric design on the sidewalk. Place the tape so that it creates a variety of adjacent shapes, such as squares, triangles, and rectangles. Then, invite little ones to color in the shapes using different colors of chalk for each one. As children apply the chalk, talk with them about the shapes that emerge. This is a great way to introduce basic geometry concepts.
Set up this simple and creative shape activity by drawing a variety of shapes on the sidewalk. Include circles, rectangles, triangles, squares, and more! Then, place chalk next to the shapes and invite the children to use one of the shapes to create a drawing. You might offer encouragement with questions like, “What picture can you draw with a rectangle?” or you can demonstrate an example by adding to one of the shapes to draw something new. Once the children get started, they are likely to use additional shapes to create pictures, such as circles under a rectangle to make a truck, or a triangle on a square to make a house. This is a great way for children to begin to learn about the many different shapes that can be found in the world around them!
Because of chalk’s open-ended and inviting nature, it can be used in a variety of art activities that encourage children’s creative self-expression. This can be as simple as offering different colors of chalk and inviting children to draw whatever comes to mind, or you might also set up an invitation to create, such as those included below.
Did you know that chalk can be used to draw on surfaces other than the sidewalk? It can also be used on natural items such as sticks, leaves, and rocks! Drawing with chalk on different natural surfaces creates interesting and unique textural experiences for young children and encourages their natural sense of creativity and imagination.
Mixing chalk with water changes the consistency of chalk and turns it into more of a paint. Invite children to create art with water and chalk by offering different colors of chalk along with cups of water and paintbrushes. Spray bottles filled with water are another option if you will be painting on large surfaces. Encourage children to experiment by mixing different combinations of chalk and water to discover the variations in the chalk mixtures’ texture, consistency, and color!
