Muffin Tray Chalk

How To

• Have your child separate the chalk by color. This is a great time to work on color recognition.
• Once the chalk are separated it’s time to grate each color. Caution: this is a great activity for small children but when the chalk gets on the smaller side, please have your child go slow when grating. You do not want tiny hands getting hurt. Depending on your comfort level you can grate the smaller pieces for them.
• Place each grated chalk color into a single cup within the muffin tin. Fill up each single cup with 1/3 of each colored chalk.
• Add 1 tablespoon of corn starch into each single cup of the muffin tin. Mix each section of the tray with a small spoon or wooden stick. You'll want to blend each color with the cornstarch before you add water into the muffin try.
• Fill each single cup of the muffin tray with water, leaving some room to mix. Do not over fill the muffin tin with water.
• Add 1-2 drops of food coloring to the corresponding color within the muffin tray.
• Mix each tin with a small spoon or wooden stick. Remember to clean your spoon before mixing it into the next single cup of the tray. While you are making your paint you can talk about colors. You can say, “What color do you want to add water to next?” or “Do you think the color will change once we add water to it?”
• Now you’re ready to make beautiful art. Using a paintbrush have your child create lines, images or even dots on your deck or sidewalk. Remember this will wash out! This is also a good reminder for children. Sometimes they get very attached to their work. If you tell them ahead of time that this will wash away when it gets wet, it will help them prepare and be aware that this image is not forever. You can also remind them towards the end of the activity.
• Give your child the freedom to explore the paint, the colors and even creating new colors. It’s exciting to see what they choose to do and how they choose to create with chalk paint. You can say, “I see you made a long pink line, and that blue line is a swirly curvy line.” Or “You mixed red and blue together and look what you create! Do you know the name of that color?” Comment on what they are doing or creating. Try not to label their work. It’s about the process not product when exploring materials.