Little Chalkboards

We recently did a project with SMart (Sustainable Materials Art), an organization in Boulder dedicated to sustainability through art. After entering their BOLD DOORS competition and juried art show, we led a children's art activity at their booth during Open Arts Fest last weekend.

We had a lot of fun leading kids through creating small chalkboards, and everyone loved the project. This is a simple way to reuse or up-cycle old wood with some new materials to create a fun and functional piece.

You'll need:

Plywood or other scrap wood, cut into 5x7" rectangles
Sandpaper
Screw eyes
Wire
Beads
5x5" pieces of fabric
Cotton balls
Twine or string
Chalkboard paint

I pre-sanded the edges of the cut wood, and then drilled two small pilot holes in the top where the screw eyes would go. Depending on the age of your kids, they might be able to complete these steps themselves (pilot holes are not necessary, they just make screwing easier).

Kids sand the surface and edges of the wood, and then wipe it clean with a damp cloth. Next they paint one side with chalkboard paint. The piece will dry in the sun in a few minutes. Meanwhile, they can add beads to a length of wire for the hanger and choose a piece of fabric for their eraser. Place 4 cotton balls in the center of the fabric and use twine to bunch together the fabric and tie for an eraser. Once the chalkboard is dry, screw the eye hooks in the pilot holes and add the wire hanger.

I like to tie the string of the eraser onto one of the eye hooks so that it's easier to keep track of (just make the string long enough to reach across the whole board.) You can also wrap a piece of chalk in the wire hanger which makes a nice holder for it.

Cut plywood with pilot holes drilled and rough edges pre-sanded