Chalkboard and Loose Parts!

Noah discovered the container of chalk yesterday and wanted to draw with it.

As I was getting out some black paper I spied the roll of chalkboard contact paper that Micador had given us a while ago. It’s been sitting there in the cupboard waiting for me to come up with an awesome project worthy of breaking it out of the packaging.

The thing is, after all those months, I still had no idea what that project would be. So I did something drastic… I grabbed the roll of chalkboard contact, ripped open the packaging and decided to make a blackboard for Noah to draw on.

We have an upright chalkboard on one side of our easel, but I had something different in mind. I wanted to created a flat, table sized, chalkboard that was easily portable.

I cut the sides off a large cardboard box (we have a never ending supply thanks to our renovations) and stuck two large pieces together so they would be nice and sturdy. Then I covered one side with the chalkboard contact paper… done!

The reason I wanted to make a flat chalkboard was so that we could use it for more than just drawing. I grabbed a selection of ‘loose parts‘ – stones, glass pebbles, plastic ‘rocks’ (my kids call them emeralds!) and the coloured dots from our Speilgaben set – and some chalk of course.

Once set up on the table I drew a spiral and placed a few gems along the line, hoping it would spark Noah’s interest. I had no idea just how he would adore this set up or all the cool things he would create with it!

First we played with spirals, squiggles and shapes. Adding more marks and drawings and lining up loose parts along the lines. Excellent fine motor and pre-writing practice.

When we cleaned off the chalkboard to draw something new Noah decided to draw his favourite thing… Daddy! A whole family of people were drawn and embellished with the loose parts.

After lunch we cleaned it off again and added some cars, roads, and a car park, of course!

Incorporating the chalk board and loose parts into imaginative play was lots of fun, and soon we had collected some animals to make a farm, drawing fences and adding little piles of food.

When I first decided to use my precious chalkboard contact paper for this project I had no idea that it was just the super cool and awesome project I had been waiting for!

There are not many activities that capture an active three year old’s imagination and spark his creativity in the way this simple chalkboard play did, and I am so glad I opened the packet and made that simple chalk board.

This morning there was a little surprise waiting for Noah on his new chalk board… and so the creating continues!

Can you think of any other ways we can use our new chalkboard?

For more fun activities to do with your kids
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{disclosure: We were given a selection of Micador Art supplies to try out. I was not obligated to write this post nor compensated in any other way. All opinions expressed are my own.}