Make It Not Buy It #2: Side Walk Paint

While it is not as vibrant as the store bought variety, sidewalk paint while expensive to buy is cheap an easy to make yourself.   Children can even mix it themselves and it washes off the sidewalk.

Cornstarch/powdered egg shells/ powdered chalk + food coloring + water

Cornstarch washes off fastest and is what I prefer to use.  Powdered egg shells have more staying power, but leave suspension faster.    A flour an water mixture does not wash out easily as it is much more glue-like.    Finally, pulverized ordinary chalk works the best for strong vivid colors, but aren’t as cheap as cornstarch.

Kid friendly to make.

Add enough water (about 4:1 but you can just eyeball it) to get the desired consistency.   An old muffin tin makes a nice paint holder and is less likely to spill than cups.    Add the desired amount of food coloring. Because the base is white more color is needed to get a vibrant hue.   If using powdered, colored chalk this step is not necessary.

Cornstarch and powdered egg shells will go out of suspension so the paint needs mixing every once in a while with a brush.

It is normal if the mixture sits for it to separate.  Just mix it back together with a brush.  I suggest using actual paint brushes and not art brushes which don’t hold up to the abusive surfaces of pavement; the art brushes the kids wanted to use were son abandoned.   We get our big brushes in a thee pack at the dollar store.

Colors brush on almost clear and then dry with color very quickly especially on a hot day.

The paint gives a lot more easy control in coloring large areas and it also works on icy, frozen snow.  We’ve painted snow people with great results.

Now that you know how easy it is to make, would you still buy sidewalk paint?