Kids love to get outside and play. We tend to have lots of bubbles, water balloons and sidewalk chalk on hand all summer long! Grab some of your sidewalk chalk for this simple, beautiful and easy summer craft for kindergarten, preschool and older children!
My students go through sidewalk chalk faster than we can keep it supplied. This is great because they are creating and spending time outside, but I also love finding ways to repurpose these summer materials into something new to keep them busy, and create something they can hang onto all year long.
On a rainy day a few days ago my kids had been drawing outside with chalk, but once the rain started their fun was over, until I grabbed a few more supplies to create something new.
I remember making layered chalk salt art when I was little and was so excited to show my kids. They created with their friends for hours, long after the rain had stopped.
Easy Summer Craft for Kindergarten Materials
You don’t need a new box of chalk for this craft, half pieces and broken bits work just as well! A variety of colors is best, but you can create something beautiful with any chalk you have.
For this easy summer craft for kindergarten, you will need:
- Sidewalk Chalk
- Table Salt
- Clear Jars / Containers with Lids
- Funnel (Optional)
- Fine Cheese Grater (Optional. See note below)
- Toothpicks (Optional)
I was able to find a cheese grater that was ‘soft’ and one that my students were able to use safely. Know your group and what they can use without getting hurt.
If you have young children that you don’t feel can safely use a cheese grater, they can scratch their sidewalk chalk on the ground/pavement to create chalk powder.
If your group is old enough, the grater tends to add to the fun of the craft and kids love using it. It also makes creating chalk powder very easy.
Summer Art – Preparing Your Chalk
Start by deciding what colors you want to include in your final jar. You can include as many layers as you want. Grate a piece of chalk to create a pile of chalk powder.
Once you have created several piles of chalk powder, you are ready to mix in the salt. The salt adds thickness to the chalk powder, makes it easier to pour and also makes it so that you don’t have to grate countless pieces of chalk to fill a jar.
Mixing Your Materials
Pour the color of chalk powder you want on the bottom of the jar into a container. Add an equal amount of salt and mix.
Next, pour this mixture into your jar. If you want to use this color again, set the mixture aside.
Continue mixing each of the chalk powder colors with salt and then pouring into your container. You can pour a thin or thick layer and you can also pour the chalk on an angle in the container to create a unique effect.
Easy Summer Craft for Kindergarten
If you have a funnel, it can help make sure that the chalk and salt mixture goes directly in the container. It can also help direct the mixture to the location in the jar that you want.
Continue adding salt and chalk powder into your jar into you have filled it with different layers. Make sure you fill it to the very top and then seal your jar. If it is not full, the layers can move and mix if the jar is moved around.
If it is completely fill when sealed, there will be no room for the layers to mix.
You can leave the chalk however it lands in the jar; however, you can also push the layers down to allow for more defined layers and pushing it down also prevents the salt and chalk mixture from settling over time.
Easy Summer Craft for Kindergarten Result
The final result is a beautiful rainbow of layers of colored chalk. Children can use any color combinations they wish so each jar will be different. It is fun to see how a few simple pieces of chalk becomes something beautiful.
Any jar or container will work for the layers, so make sure to use what you have on hand.
We’ll hang onto my kids creations all year round. It’s a fun reminder of summertime!
If you are making this easy summer craft for kindergarten with a group of students, I’ve included a cute printable that you can attach to each child’s chalk creation to then send home.
If you encourage children to use lots of colors in their jar, each color can represent something different to look forward to for summer.
Summer Craft for Kids Extension Idea
If you are creating this craft with older children, they can add some extra details to their layers. You can add a layer of chalk and salt and then use a toothpick to create a tunnel for the new color to fall down into.
Using this technique, you can add fun details to each layer or only through one layer. Kids can play around with the toothpick to create different effects.
Free Printable
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