Scented Sidewalk Chalk Paint Recipe for Play: Need a quick outdoor activity that will keep your kiddos entertained and exploring? Then this is for you! This simple recipe only requires three ingredients, will not stain your sidewalk, and is perfect for some simple outdoors fun!
This week has been rough to say the least. Trying to get back into the swing of work, get kids started into their new programs, get hubs settled into his new job, finding a new OB…and which boxes are those toys in?! I am pretty sure Meatball thinks I am torturing him as we tear through the boxes looking for the indoor toys.
Thankfully it has been gorgeous outside and the yard at the new house is fabulous! Nothing like kicking the kids outside to play!! After digging who knows how many holes to the center of the earth we were needing a new activity. Enter this scented sidewalk chalk paint. I have seen a couple different recipes floating around that all called for food dye. While I do use food dye in some of our homemade paint recipes I did not want to use it for our sidewalk chalk paint because of the way concrete absorbs…I was worried about staining. This recipe not only did not stain our sidewalks, it kept my kids entertained for a good two hours! That’s a win if you ask me!!
Ingredients Needed for Scented Sidewalk Chalk Paint:
- Water
- Kool-Aide
- Smashed Up Chalk (will make colors more vibrant) or Cornstarch
If you want to use chalk that is already in powder form you can find some on Amazon (or search for Holi Chalk).
How to Make and Play with Scented Sidewalk Chalk Paint:
To make our chalk we used smashed up chalk instead of cornstarch to thicken the paint because we had a lot of small pieces of chalk in our bin and I didn’t want to run to the store to buy cornstarch. To smash up our chalk we simply put a small piece into a zip-lock bag, laid it on the ground, and went after it with a hammer until it was in a powder form.
Once smushed up pretty good we mixed the chalk powder with one kool-aide packet and a cup of water. Then we took it outside to play. Easy Peasy!
My kids were a little hesitant when it first came out. We love to play with paint, but I do not think we have ever painted on the sidewalks before…we started out by sniffing and exploring each scent and color.
Which very quickly turned to stirring and splashing!
If you have ever played with Oobleck before then you know the fun consistency that cornstarch and water can have. This made for some excellent color experimenting.
We had a lot of fun playing around with consistency and experimenting with what we could do to thin out and spread the paint over a larger surface.
We tried exploring different items as brushes — the chalk sticks were a favorite!
And then some little hands decided it was time to explore the different textures…
and it took no time for those same little hands to dive right in…
Then more needed to be added to the color puddle.
Which is best when poured!
and then this happened…
The puddle jumping commenced!
The racing and footprint challenges began.
And eventually we were exploring the scented sidewalk chalk paint with our entire bodies. Yep it got messy!
We had a TON of fun with this!!! While it is definitely a play clothes type of activity, this Scented Sidewalk Chalk Paint has easily become one of our family favorites. We will definitely be visiting this again!!
Scented Sidewalk Chalk Paint

Scented Sidewalk Chalk Paint Recipe for Play: Need a quick outdoor activity that will keep your kiddos entertained and exploring? Then this is for you! This simple recipe only requires three ingredients, will not stain your sidewalk, and is perfect for some simple outdoors fun!
Ingredients
- 1 cup Water
- Kool-Aide
- Smashed Up Chalk, will make colors more vibrant or 1 cup Cornstarch
Instructions
- Mix Water and Kool-aide in a container.
- Either add in cornstarch or powdered chalk to mix.
- Stir and Play!
Notes
If using chalk instead of cornstarch add your chalk piece to a zip-lock bag, seal, and smash into a powder using a hammer on a flat surface.
Nutrition Information:
Serving Size:
1 gramsAmount Per Serving: Unsaturated Fat: 0g
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