How To Make Homemade Sidewalk Chalk

We have a 5 year old little grand daughter who loves to play outside in the summertime. She loves to use sidewalk chalk and I quit buying it at the store when I found this fabulous homemade sidewalk chalk recipe.

I had always thought it would be a hard and time consuming process to make it myself...but was pleasantly surprised at how easy it is to do.

Here is what you will need along with the instructions on how to make it.

How to Make Homemade Sidewalk Chalk - Recipe, Instructions and Photos

* Two parts Plaster of Paris
* One part water (use warm tap water)
* Food coloring
* Plastic butter dishes
* Empty cardboard tubes (paper towels, toilet paper, gift wrap rolls, etc.)
* Aluminum foil
* Duct tape
* Paint stir stick or old wooden spoon

Use a measuring cup and measure out the Plaster of Paris into an old plastic butter dish/bowl. Stir in the warm tap water, stirring with a paint stir stick or an old wooden spoon.

Stir in some food coloring, just a few drops at a time until it reaches the desired shade. You can combine two colors together to make shades or just use one color, entirely up to you. You will want to continue stirring the Plaster of Paris mixture until it thickens. If necessary, you can add more Plaster of Paris or if it is too thick, add a little more water.

Cut your empty cardboard rolls to the desired length. Cover one end of each cardboard tube with aluminum foil and secure it around the end of the tube using duct tape.

Pour and spoon the Plaster of Paris mixture into your prepared chalk molds. Stand them upright and make sure they don't tip over. Let them firm up for several hours or overnight.

Once they are firm, tear off the cardboard and the new sidewalk chalk is ready to go! We like to store ours in an empty old plastic fishing tackle box!