Anyone a fan of Mary Poppins? Okay, we aren’t exactly jumping into magical worlds through our chalk art on our sidewalk, but it’s been fun.
It started as a positivity thing. Everyone was tired of being stuck, and we saw the movement on social media of decorating sidewalks with kind messages to cheer everyone up. After all, our only escape from the home were our daily walks, and we took them daily, sometimes twice in a day.
We wrote nice messages, drew flowers, made happy faces, rainbows, whatever we felt like drawing. Amelia would tell me the nice messages she wanted me to write, and I would spell them out. Then she colored it in.
Now, even though less people are walking our neighborhood, we are still doing chalk art on the sidewalk a few times a week. It’s a fun art project, we listen to music and Amelia always greets everyone who walks by.
It’s especially cool to see how social she has become during all of this. She says hello to most people who walk by. This is a great opportunity for her to get a little bit of social time because our street seems to attract a decent number of pedestrians. Since March she has really only seen family.
We also discuss color names, what mixing two colors does, and other things. We’re also getting some great outdoor time in fresh air.
Mommy University says there are three major benefits of playing with sidewalk chalk: enhanced academic knowledge, improved fine motor skills and a greater appreciation for the arts.
If you are on a tight budget, the dollar store usually has a decent variety of sidewalk chalk.
And the beauty? There’s no clean-up…just let the next storm wash away the images. Then you can draw again on a fresh canvas. Sometimes even mommy joins us!
Pod of One 