Toddler Art: Soggy Chalk Drawings

Adding water to chalk makes especially bright marks on dark paper (also, spray bottles are F-U-N!).

Art Project:  Soggy Chalk Drawings
Supplies:

colored chalk (we used "artist's chalk" in class, but sidewalk chalk works just as well and is often better suited for small hands)

dark construction paper

water

spray bottles, sponges, paintbrushes

Book:

 

Night lights / Gal, Susan

Music to make art by: 

Dragonfly [sound recording] / Bregar, Johnny

 What Kids Do:  make marks on the paper with chalk. 

Experiment with wet paper vs. dry, wet chalk vs. dry,

different ways to get water onto your project, 

& learn how paper behaves differently when it's soaked (tears, wrinkles, etc.)

and if chalk marks look different when they start dry and get wet or if they start wet, then the paper dries.

and also, dinosaur-shaped sponges are fun!

Hindsight Tip:  I wish I'd had enough spray bottles for every kid to have their own.  They were the popular tool of the day.  But then again, scarcity made them find other things to do while they waited and that was a positive!  It's also a good idea to have a stash of paper grocery bags to help people transport their soaking wet art home in if they want to.

 

Variations to try: 
--If the weather was nice, this project would work great outside on the sidewalk or on a large piece of wood spray painted with chalkboard paint.
--This is actually very closely related to the water painting on stones project from two weeks ago.  i wondered if anyone would say, "didn't we just do this?" but if anything, the kids loved playing with the water as an art supply even more this time than last time.  After all, repetition is key with this age group.  They'd probably love it if I gave them paint, water, brushes and paper every week!  (but the parents might get bored....)

Adult Challenge:  Ask open-ended questions.  Instead of asking your child if they'd like to make a blue mark here in the corner of their paper, ask, "what would you like to draw next?" or instead of asking them if they just drew a dog, ask them what their favorite part about the painting is.