Kids love playing with chalk outside, but did you know you can diy your very own chalkboard wall? They’re perfect for any playroom, bedroom, or nursery design.
Chalkboards are so versatile that they make awesome room decor as well, it’s up to you how you paint the wall or draw on the chalkboard. But chalkboards aren’t just for walls, there are a lot of ways to do a DIY chalkboard project and it can be fairly easy.
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Chalk Surface
There are many cool ways to have a chalk surface for both kids and adults to enjoy. The sizes are endless as well. Some of these ways include:
- Sidewalk
- Table
- Easel
- Framed board
- Wall
- Clipboard on-the-go
- Labels
At our house, we painted one entire wall of our son’s room for our kids to enjoy. I often draw current things on there for them to help learn and identify and they enjoy scribbling their own art on there as well.
how to make your own chalkboard
If you’re looking to do a DIY Chalkboard Wall, I’d recommend using this paint. They come in black, green, and clear depending on your project. We used the black Chalkboard paint for our kids room. You’ll need to do a few coats to get it just right.
That’s it, pretty simple DIY if you can paint a wall.
For a slightly different chalkboard project you can even paint it on a smaller surface, like a kitchen backsplash or framed surface.
For an added bonus, you can even try a magnetic primer, although reviews seem mixed. There’s also chalkboard contact paper and products for dry-erase projects.
smaller & fun chalkboard products
If you’re not into the DIY project but still want to have fun with a chalk board, there’s some good ones out there.
Chalk Materials
When we first painted our wall, our kids were very little so we were concerned about our kids eating the chalk. Turns out there are edible chalk products out there made of vegetables (they’re just hard to find)!
As for cleanliness, I looked up some chalk holders to keep our hands a little bit cleaner and keep the thinner chalks from breaking.
I also found some pretty cool markers that are meant for chalk walls! They’re so much cleaner to write/draw with and look absolutely beautiful.
The only downside to the ones I got is that sometimes the ink doesn’t come out, it takes a little shaking and extra effort, and sometimes even when cleaned off it shows a mild outline of your previous drawing.
Now that I’m looking into this I’m finding even cooler products I need to try out, like better markers and dustless chalk!!
Cleaning Materials
Because chalk releases a bunch of fine dust particles, it can sometimes be a pain to clean.
Regular chalk erasers just spread the chalk dust around and leave your surface mildly white and dusty.
I’m a perfectionist so whenever I clean off our chalk wall I want it looking clean, meaning, completely black. I’ve looked into this quite a bit and the best solutions for me have been wet clothes or rags (never paper towels) and magic eraser sponges.
Some even said to use Coca Cola but that left our wall more sticky than ever and I’m still trying to get that off.
As for cleaning clothes, well that’s not really an issue because they wipe off and can be washed with the rest of the clothes.
Fun Ways To Use Your Chalkboard Wall with kids
With an empty canvas, your options are limitless. These are just some of many great ways to utilize your chalkboard wall with kids.
- Monthly milestones
- Measure their growth (they will erase it)
- Drawing their favorite characters
- Illustrate seasonal designs
- Scribble and be creative
- Identify colors and shapes
- How to draw lines and shapes
- Teach numbers and the alphabet
- Sign language lessons
- Keep a calendar
- To-do List of Activities
- Chores checklist
- Leave them love notes (or in symbols)
Since we have the full wall painted for chalk designing, I usually draw something more long-term on the top half of the wall. Things like patterns, characters, numbers and the alphabet. This way the kids have the freedom to do what they want with the bottom half.
I made a very neat calendar for our kids. Every night we go through the days of the week, discuss yesterday’s date, today’s date as we cross it off, and tomorrow’s date as we say goodnight. Hopefully it’ll give them a better sense of time and learn more about numbers. It later inspired our new daily calendar routine.
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My name is Paula and I’m a mom of two scrumptious cuties. Thanks Mommy Blog became a project for me to help guide other new moms and current moms through any of my own personal experiences and struggles. My hobbies include singing, doing jigsaw puzzles, baking, designing and trying to stay creative.
What a great resource! I had never heard of edible chalk before, and I especially love that you posted so many tips for cleaning up the chalk mess. I’ve contemplated making a chalk wall so many times, but I’ve shied away from it because of all the cleanup I imagine… Read more »
Love this! I want to do a chalkboard wall as soon as we purchase a home! & I love that there is edible chalk out there! So cool!
I love it! Chalkboard walls are fun! We are in the process of moving so I may have to consider putting one in our new house.
My kids LOVE their blackboard. It keeps them busy for hours! I’ve never heard of edible chalk. Not sure I’d buy it but still very cool!
I’ve always wanted one of these for our house!! Thanks for sharing this!!