Chalk Isn't Just for Boards!

Mom-mom is the best balloon blower-upper ever!!

Nobody can do for little children what grandparents do. Grandparents sort of sprinkle stardust over the lives of little children. ~Alex Haley

Today, we had lots of backyard fun and discoveries as we used simple materials.  We began our day with a pan of water and sticks of sidewalk chalk.  We discovered that, when dropped into water, the chalk sticks floated briefly and then sank.  Each grand used a small grater to grate colored chalk and dropped it into the water.  As the small specks of chalk floated on top of the water, the grands placed a piece of construction paper on top (don't push the paper down).    After the paper was completely wet, they lifted the paper and hung it to dry.  Later, the grands added stickers to embellish their chalk designs. We talked about how water forms a "skin" on it's surface so that it holds up objects that would usually sink.  This is called surface tension.

Chalk Float Designs


The grands had fun playing with punch balls that were mostly blown-up by them.  Mom-mom helped out again.  She is the best balloon blower-upper!!!

Cottonballs and Vaseline made this game tremendous fun as the grands had to pick up the cottonballs  using only their noses that had been smeared with the Vaseline.

After a healthy snack...

...the grands colored salt with chalk and layered it into bottles. This was a wonderful sensory project, even for Mom-Mom!!!  Dump some salt onto a paper towel and rub the chalk over the salt until it is the desired shade, use a funnel to pour into the jars.  We used old glass spice jars! 

So beautiful!

Please - no shaking!

After some fun in the sprinkler, the grands painted with chalk paint.  Just mix 1/4 cup of cornstarch with 1/4 cup of water.  Add a few drops of food coloring and stir until well-blended.  We loved the results.

Here's a Jackson Pollock

We found this idea on the www.familyfun.com

'til next week - it's grand to be a Grand!