Sidewalk Chalk Paint

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Learn how to make homemade sidewalk chalk paint and keep your children entertained all day long with this quick and easy kids’ art and craft activity! A great outdoor summer craft for kids!

colorful diy homemade sidewalk chalk paint

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DIY sidewalk chalk paint is one of our favorite (and inexpensive!) outdoor summer activities! We’ve previously shared our favorite homemade chalk paint recipe before, but it is SO much fun that I couldn’t resist bringing it up one more time. Making your own sidewalk chalk paint is super easy, and it only requires a couple of common household ingredients, so virtually ANYONE can do it!

Our DIY sidewalk paint makes such a fun alternative to traditional sidewalk chalk. Kids of all ages will love playing mad scientist while mixing up their favorite vibrant colors of this fun homemade sidewalk paint!


Easy Sidewalk Chalk Paint

child painting with diy sidewalk chalk paint

How to Make Sidewalk Chalk Paint:

Follow these easy, step-by-step instructions to get kid-friendly chalk paint. In just minutes, you’ll have the BEST cure for Summer boredom!

Start by mixing together the water and cornstarch in a large bowl, and stir until the cornstarch dissolves. Our sidewalk chalk recipe generally calls for a 1:1 ratio of cornstarch and water, but since we were painting on the sidewalk instead of paper, I incorporated just a bit more water and found that we liked it even better.

We were able to paint longer brushstrokes without needing to reload the paintbrush with paint, which is always great for younger kids.

Divide the paint mixture into equal amounts in the wells of a muffin tin or similar painting tray, and add food coloring to achieve the desired colors – note that the paint color will dry much lighter on the sidewalk than they appear in the tin!

kids sitting on pavement with sidewalk chalk paintings

Large kid’s paint brushes work best, but any paintbrush will do! You can also put your DIY chalk paint mix into a squeeze bottle or squirt bottles, too.

colorful chalk paint being played with outside by kids
muffin tray full of sidewalk chalk paint
child painting with easy to make sidewalk paint

Since the entire batch of paint only costs about $.50 to make, I never have to worry about them ruining expensive paints when it comes time to experiment with color mixing (Sutton’s specialty!).

washable sidewalk chalk paint being played with outside

When the kids were done painting with the paintbrushes, they decided to paint their hands and feet and make hand/footprints on the sidewalk. They had a blast with it! The paint washes off their skin easily with soap and water, and we didn’t run into any problems with the food coloring staining their skin or the concrete.

children painting with sidewalk chalk paint
children playing hopscotch on sidewalk

Of course, around here, you can’t play with sidewalk chalk without making hopscotch! It makes a fun outdoor activity and a great time killer.

kids playing hopscotch on painted sidewalk

These guys hopscotched and painted with our homemade sidewalk chalk paint for almost two hours! That’s a huge parenting win!

Sidewalk Chalk Paint Recipe Card

painting with sidewalk chalk

Sidewalk Chalk Paint

Learn how to make sidewalk chalk paint and keep your children entertained all day long with this quick and easy kids art and craft activity! A great outdoor summer craft for kids!
5 from 2 votes
Print Pin Save Rate
Prep Time: 5 minutes

What You’ll Need:

Instructions:

  • Mix together the water and cornstarch, and stir until the cornstarch dissolves.
  • Divide the paint mixture into the wells of a muffin tin or similar painting tray.
  • Add food coloring to achieve the desired colors – note that the colors will dry much lighter on the sidewalk than they appear in the tin!
  • Go Paint! Large kids paintbrushes work best, but any paintbrush will do!

Notes:

Our chalk paint recipe generally calls for a 1:1 ratio of cornstarch and water, but since we were painting on the sidewalk instead of paper, I incorporated just a bit more water and found that we liked it even better. We were able to paint longer brushstrokes without needing to reload the paintbrush with paint, which is always great for younger kids.
Did You Make This?Mention @HeidiKundin or tag #hihmakersclub on Instagram to show off your awesome work! ♥

NOTE:

We didn’t have any problems with staining or clean up (our paint was hosed cleanly away and easily washed off of the children with soap and water), but I cannot guarantee that the food coloring might not stain, especially if you have light or very porous concrete. Please use this at your discretion…it also works great on dark-colored construction paper, so if you’re worried about cleanup, that’s another fun way to try it out!

Once you’re all finished, washing off with the garden hose is a great way to cool down during the hot Summer months. Or, let the rain take care of it for you! If you’ve made a larger batch of outdoor chalk paint, you can save any leftover paint in airtight containers for next time.

This easy recipe is sure to bring you endless hours of fun! If you’re looking for even more fun DIYS for kids, be sure to check out our huge collection of kids crafts & activities for TONS of Summer fun! Happy painting!

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Don’t Forget to Pin This DIY Sidewalk Chalk To Save it For Later!

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homemade side walk chalk paint
Homemade sidewalk chalk paint recipe card

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18 Comments

  1. 5 stars
    We used this recipe as a basis to mark a large bicycle track in the church parking lot for Bike Safety week at our preschool. It worked beautifully. We used 4 lb. cornstarch to 1 gallon water with yellow food coloring. Sprayed it on with a garden pump sprayer using the fan nozzle. It does dry much lighter and rinsed off completely. It stayed on, even with kids running their bikes over it. Can’t wait to use the regular recipe amounts and have fun with the grand kids! Thank you so much!

  2. 5 stars
    My kids love this so much. I’m writing a book and would love to quote this recipe (giving you credit of course), please let me know if this would be OK! My email is jm3885@yahoo.com, thanks!

  3. Have you used it on the road? Halloween is near and i would like to make a designated walking area with cones and Halloween characters on the road for the kids to follow and be safe from cars. I do live near a busy street with no crosswalk and dimly lit corner.

    I have 2 traffic cones and a bright light. All i need is something fun that will stand out on the rode for the kids to follow.

  4. my sister in law randomly found your blog on pinterest and sent me a screenshot of the pic of your two boys above painting – I also have a Sutton and a Sawyer (both girls tho). anyway – just thought that was completely random! especially Sutton – don’t hear it real often!

  5. Children spend vacation with painting that’s amazing.I like it, want to share it in FB.Thanks.signs ft lauderdale

  6. Have you tried using this on an actual chalk board? I would love to have a an alternative to drawing with chalk on my framed chalk board that I have to document my pregnancy.

    1. Yes! We’ve used it on our outdoor chalkboards (homemade with plywood and chalkboard paint), and it works great. You may need to use a bit of water to help remove it as it tends to stick to the chalkboard more than normal chalk does.

  7. One question; does it stain their clothes? I’d love to do this with my sister’s kids and I need to know if I need to grab ‘play clothes’ for them.

    1. I’ve never had an issue with it staining clothes or the concrete since I use a pretty small amount of food coloring in ratio to the water/corn starch mix….but, I’d still probably use play clothes anyway, just in case! 🙂

  8. @ Bumble Baybees – I tried replying to your comment via email, but you have your return address turned off 🙂

    I have made this paint and left it out (covered) for a couple of days, and it has been fine. After about three days it does start to get a little stinky, so maybe just plan on making it the day before. Usually it doesn’t last that long around here anyway! I’ve never tried putting it in the fridge, so I’m not sure if that would help it keep longer 🙂

  9. If you make it the night before will it stay covered in the fridge or just covered??? I am in love with this idea btw. We are having a “baby pool party” at our house. This will be the craft for the kids!!!