Make Your Own Sidewalk Chalk

For an easy Canada Day activity this year, we made our own sidewalk chalk. It only takes three ingredients and it's ready to use in the afternoon if you start in the morning!

You Will Need:

• 1 and 1/2 cups Plaster of Paris (available at the hardware store)
• 3/4 cup warm water
• large bowl
• spatula or plastic spoon
• red powdered or liquid tempera paint
• glitter (optional)
• egg carton or silicon baking cups
• popsicle stick

Instructions:

1. Pour the Plaster of Paris over the water in a large bowl. Mix quickly and thoroughly with a plastic spoon or spatula.

2. We used two different techniques to colour our chalk. Both techniques need to be done quickly, as the plaster sets faster than you might expect. Make sure you have everything ready and on hand.

For the first batch, I stirred 3 tbsp of red powdered tempera paint into the Plaster of Paris mixture, mixed lightly to create swirls of colour and spooned the mixture into a plastic wrap-lined egg carton.

For the second batch of chalk, I poured the plain white Plaster of Paris mixture into silicon baking cups. I added a squirt or two of red liquid tempera paint and a generous sprinkle of glitter.

3. Stir each cup gently with a popsicle stick to swirl the colours together. I left both batches of chalk to dry outside in the sun. If it's raining, you can still dry the chalk, but it will take a considerably longer amount of time.

4. Once the chalk pieces are dry to the touch, pop them out of their moulds and let them dry a bit longer in the sun.

5. Roughly seven hours later, the chalk is ready to use!

The kids really enjoyed watching new colours appear as the chalk pieces wore down with use.

Happy Birthday, Canada! And happy chalking, everyone!