It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood and I’m so lucky that Reagan LOVES to play outside! I have been eyeing various chalk paint pins on Pinterest and knew that Reagan would be head over heels in love with the idea of being able to paint the driveway! Today seemed like the perfect day to DIY some chalk paint and let Reagan display her artistic talents in a new and exciting way!

We headed to the dollar store to grab some paint brushes and a muffin tin. Pinterest suggested using a muffin tin to hold the paint. We ended up leaving with a coloring book, hot pink plastic plates, a neon yellow bucket, two plastic pink veggie trays, a ball- Reagan is just a bit obsessed with balls at the moment-, foam paint brushes and larger bristle paint brushes. I don’t think that there is a person in this world that can go into the dollar store and not find more than one piece of crap to buy. I bought multiple brushes and two veggie trays, to use instead of muffin tins, in hopes that some of the neighborhood kids would be outside and we could invited them over to play.

The chalk is super easy to make and came off of our clothes rather easily. I would still recommend wearing clothes that you don’t mind ruining, just incase. Reagan participated from start to finish with this project and really seemed to enjoy it. Unfortunately, the actual painting part of the activity didn’t really hold her attention for as long as I had hoped. You see, the chalk paint, when first painted onto the driveway was super light and got darker over time as it dried. This isn’t the best process for an 18 month old that is looking for instant gratification.

After about ten minutes of painting, Reagan ended up collecting rocks in a sand bucket and dipping them into different paint colors. I was ecstatic that Reagan, independently, thought up this extension to the activity that I introduced. She took what she knew about the paints and used the knowledge she had to create something new and different! Woot! Woot!

We cleaned up by washing out tools under the outdoor faucet.

Ingredients
(I tripled this recipe)
1/4 cup corn starch
1/4 cup water
food coloring

Materials
paint brushes
veggie tray, muffin tin, something to hold the paint
Spoon
Medium sized bowl

Mix corn starch and water together until there are no lumps.

Pour into veggie tray spaces.

Add food coloring and stir.

Paint…or dip rocks, whatever works!

This is what we saw looking out Reagan’s bedroom window before nap time!