~ Sidewalk Chalk ~
Ideas to Foster Development of Fine Motor, Gross Motor, and Speech Skills!
We love outdoor play during the warm summer months! We love using sidewalk chalk as an idea to foster growth, learning, and development!
Break It! Most sidewalk chalk comes in jumbo pieces, but you can break them into smaller pieces to help develop skills for grasping and writing. A fun idea is to use a rock or hammer (supervised!) to smash the chalk into smaller pieces! This is a great heavy work and upper body strengthening activity!
Draw! Work on those fine motor and visual motor skills by drawing shapes, connecting lines, drawing letters, drawing a person, or playing Tic Tac Toe! Practice writing words, identifying letters, describing colors, naming shapes!
Make an Obstacle Course! Sidewalk chalk is great for making an obstacle course pathway that includes anything you can think of! You can draw circles for jumping, a line for walking (bonus points if you make it zig zag or curved to increase the challenge!), or a target to toss bean bags to! You can make your own hopscotch board, agility ladder, lava pit to jump over, or even your own Twister board!
Liquid Chalk! You can get the chalk dust wet to draw with your fingers or a paintbrush to add a new spin to your chalk art!
Color More! You can color more than just the sidewalk! Use your chalk to color rocks, bricks, or other washable surfaces! This helps work on fine motor skills, bilateral coordination, and in-hand manipulation skills! Your child will have to use both hands together improving strength and dexterity of both hands!
Clean It! After you draw something with chalk on the sidewalk or on a vertical surface such as a brick wall, you can wash it away! Use a squirt bottle to promote fine motor strength and erase your words, art, or shapes to clean your surface and start again!
Repeat! The ideas are as endless as the sidewalk!
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