This activity happened by chance (the best ones usually do!).
We were in the garden and the little peeps were playing with some new neon chunky chalks that I had recently bought. One of the chalks was left on the ground and it got stepped on and abit crushed.
I quickly picked up the crushed chalk and thought this was the perfect opportunity to make some chalk paint, which I had seen in the fabulous 'Wonder Art Workshop' book by Sally Haughey of Fairy Dust Teaching.
I grabbed a couple of wooden pestle and mortars that I had picked up at a charity shop, and I showed the little peeps how to crush the chalk (I had to start them off by crushing the big pieces down and they carried on).
They loved doing this, using those arm, wrist and hand muscles (building up co-ordination and muscle strength ready for future writing).
I then gave them a jug of water and they poured in a little, using control and co-ordination, I explained that the less water they added the thicker and brighter the paint would be, the more water they add the thinner and paler it would be (understanding cause and effect).
They mixed and they stirred, they added more chalk, more water, more crushing, more mixing. They then used a brush and started to paint, they painted the wall, the outdoor blackboards, the table or anything they could paint!.
This was such good fun and they spent a while on this activity, they came back to it the next day. I think this will be revisited again soon!
Sometimes the spontaneous activities are the best!
