Gold and Silver Sidewalk Chalk

(E was 2 years and 9 months old.)

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Materials for Gold and Silver Sidewalk Chalk:

• Cornstarch.
• Water.
• Gold and/or silver liquid watercolors.
• Containers for the paint {if not using squeeze bottles}.
• Squeeze bottles and/or paint brush(es) (optional).

 

How to make Gold and Silver Sidewalk Chalk:

Mix cornstarch and water. A good place to start is probably equal parts but you need to find a consistency that works for you. You don’t want to make it too thick or it’ll be too hard to paint with. The cornstarch tends to start coming together to form a lump once the paint hasn’t been stirred for a while, so you may need to stir periodically while the paint is in use.

Add the gold and/or silver liquid watercolors. You want to make sure to shake the paint bottles extremely well, as the pigments tend to separate and settle at the bottom.

With the first batch we made, we added quite a large amount to make the gold and silver actually show up in the squeeze bottles somewhat, and it still didn’t look like much. In the second batch, we used more cornstarch, and that seemed to help the gold and silver pigments to show up better. I don’t think it made a huge difference once it was on the ground, though.

 

 

 

E loves sidewalk chalk, and we’ve painted with it many times.

Before I finally got around to ordering a set of liquid watercolors, we’d always used food coloring.

The set came with gold and silver, and since I’d never seen gold and silver sidewalk chalk, I decided to see if a) watercolors work to color sidewalk chalk {I was pretty sure they would} and b) you could still tell it was gold and silver once it had been painted with {I had my doubts}.

We used our new squeeze bottles {they were 97 cents at Walmart but I’m definitely in the market for different ones, as they leaked quite a bit} for a different painting experience and hand strengthening.

E thought it was all pretty awesome – gold or no gold.

 

The paint went pretty fast this way but just like any sidewalk chalk, you can always entertain yourself by standing in it and making nice footprints 😉

 

After a while, E convinced me to make another batch.

 

This time, she tried squeezing some into her dirt patch but it didn’t keep her attention.

 

Look how well the gold shows up in the bottle with this batch!

 

By now, the sun had come out for a short interlude and made the sidewalk chalk really shimmer.

 

E took a good look and tested the feel with her hand.

 

I suggested she use a paintbrush just to see how it turned out and she did for two strokes

 

but it was definitely more of a splashing kind of day {and the chalk definitely benefited from being applied more … uhm … liberally}!

 

Once the sun came out for the first time after the gold and silver sidewalk chalk had dried, I took more pictures to give you an idea of how it looks dry but they don’t really do it justice.

 

 

 

What I learned:

• Do this when the sun is out! It’s “okay” when it’s overcast but I have to admit I was a bit disappointed until the sun finally made an appearance.
• I thought it looked best a few minutes after the sidewalk chalk hit the concrete. For the first few minutes, it just looked gray and brownish respectively but after that, once the pigments had had a chance to start settling independently of the cornstarch, the gold and silver really popped. Once the sidewalk chalk dried, the white cornstarch became much more pronounced and covered some of the shimmer {although it still looked nice in the sun}.
• Using a paintbrush to paint with it isn’t really worthwhile, it needs to be applied pretty thickly for best results.
• For the same reason, I suspect gold and silver sidewalk chalk wouldn’t work very well if used frozen.

 

Have you made your own sidewalk chalk before? What have you used gold and silver liquid watercolors for? Tell me in the comments, and feel free to leave a link if you’ve written about it!

 

 

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