Elementary Activities: New Ways to Play with Sidewalk Chalk

By Deborah Pace Rowley

Drawing with sidewalk chalk is an essential summertime activity at our house. Here are some new ways to play with sidewalk chalk that your children may not have tried before.

• Use chalk to write cheerful messages on the driveway of an elderly neighbor or on the porch at Grandma and Grandpa’s House. Try not to get caught!
• Create a City. You can draw the perfect place for Little People or Matchbox Cars to hang out. Include the school, the grocery store, the police station, the hospital and everything else that your chalk city needs.
• Bug Race Course. Create a start and finish line then round up critters to try out the course.
• Play paper games such as Tic-Tac-Toe, Bingo or Dots and Boxes.
• Play Scrabble. One person writes down any word. The next person has to write down a word that connects with that word in some way. For added fun, choose a scrabble theme like Girl’s Names, Toys, Foods etc.
•  Write in Secret Code. Put the code key next to the secret code on the driveway or sidewalk so that anyone who comes along can decode your secret message.
• Finish the Scribble. One person draws a scribbled line. The next person has to complete the picture by turning the scribble into an object such as an animal or a person or a thing.
•  Play Pictionary. One person draws while the other person tries to guess what they are drawing.
• Create magic chalk art like in the movie Mary Poppins. Draw a scene you could imagine jumping into and visiting for the day.
•  Lead someone on a sidewalk chalk trail. The path you draw could include instructions to “Stop Here and Do a Dance” or instructions to “SKIP” or “GALLOP” to the next place down the road. Make sure that your sidewalk chalk path leads to a fun treat or other reward.
•  Draw a sidewalk chalk treasure map. Create a map on your sidewalk that shows where buried treasure is hidden in the backyard. Be sure that X marks the spot for a fun snack or surprise.  
• Come up with your own fun sidewalk chalk ideas.