Wood Chip Chalk Art

I love it when art can be incorporated into everyday play and am always on the lookout for ideas easy enough to try at home. Today I am so excited to welcome Tammy from Housing A Forest over for a 'virtual play date' at Kids' Play Space! She has one of the most inspiring kid focused blogs around, full of engaging, creative activities you can't help but LOVE! Two of my favourites include her awesome Dancing Oobleck experiment and the simple, clever Re-Usable Stamp Pad tutorial. 

So while the little one and I are over at Housing A Forest today gathering treasures from the park to bring into a Nocturnal Possum Small World project (in our window sill), Tammy and her kids are taking us out on a trip to the park for a gorgeous, colourful art activity...

Hi, I’m Tammy from Housing A Forest! I’m absolutely thrilled to be here at Kids' Play Space today to share an activity that we had so much fun with ~ Wood Chip Chalk Art! It is the perfect activity for you to create in your backyard or at the park.

 To make Wood Chip Chalk Art you will need:

• Wood chips or sticks in varying size
• Sidewalk Chalk in lots of different colors

Start by gathering your wood chips and sticks. Lots of our parks use wood chips around trees or as the base under the playground equipment, so there are plenty to choose from. The kids scoured around for just the right wood chips. Once they gathered a decent sized pile, they simply rubbed chalk onto the wood. Yep it is really just that easy!

I love how the texture of each piece stands out once it is colored with chalk, and how bright the chalk is. Once your pieces are all colored you are all ready to start creating and building your art work.

The kids made LOTS of adorable bugs out of their wood chips. I love this simple colorful butterfly.

The girls used a couple of sticks to create the antennas for this adorable bug.

This bright little centipede is so cute. I love that the girls used a number of different colors to create its legs. The girls wanted to see how long of a bug they could create. Although before they could make the "longest bug in the world" we had to leave for an appointment. We will have to finish it another day.

  

 A sweet little house for all the bugs to live in.

The best part about this simple art project, is that you can leave your chalk covered wood pieces in the park for others to enjoy after you are gone. Since you are only using chalk, the color will wash away when it rains, leaving behind no evidence that you were there. Creating Wood Chip Chalk Art is such a simple project! I love that it only needs chalk and little bits of nature. Perfect for creating on the go. My kids cant wait to do try it again!

If you are looking for more inspiring art to create in the park, check out the Tire Swing Pendulum Painting that we created. My kids had a blast, swinging and painting at the same time.

It has been such a pleasure to share this activity with you today.

I would love for you to follow along with Housing A Forest. To see more projects, you can connect with me on Housing A Forest; Pinterest; Facebook; Google + and Twitter.

  

                     
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Tammy is the writer and creator of Housing A Forest. She is a busy mom of 3 school aged kiddos, and teaches high school art part time. She loves being creative and encouraging her kids to be creative a well. Housing A Forest is packed full of art tutorials, educational activities and good old fashioned fun your kids will love.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  

I hope you enjoyed today's guest post (I personally can't stop looking at Tammy's beautiful photos!) - Don't forget to hop over to Housing A Forest to leave Tammy a comment about her activity, and to check out our latest small world fun! 

Thanks for visiting Kids' Play Space!
'til soon,

Anna :-) 

[Be sure to follow along on Facebook, Pinterest and Google+ for all our Kids' Play Space updates!]