WASHABLE GRAFFITI  was purely an accident. I have a blue canvas butterfly chair on my porch with a table beside it. One day a bucketful of chalk was on the table and I thought it might be fun to draw on the chair with it. So we did. And guess what? It was really cool! The way the chalk glides across the fabric is a wonderful sensory experience for kids. It melts like butter! So I promptly ran out and bought a large piece black duck cloth to try this project on a grander scale. As art activities for kids go this is one of the easiest and most simply stunning we’ve tried.

I like drawing on things other than paper. Mixing up art materials is one of my favorite things to do to tap into children’s (and adults) creativity. Combining two basic materials in an unusual way is also a great exercise to open up people’s imaginations. Canvas is used all the time for paint but why not try it with chalk? And when you are tired of the chalk art you make throw it in the washing machine, dry and start over with a blank REUSABLE canvas!\

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Easy Art Activities for Kids: WASHABLE GRAFFITI 

Materials 

• 1-1/2 – 2 yards Black Duck Cloth
• Sidewalk Chalk
• Painter’s tape
• Popsicles optional 😉

Instructions

• Step One Tape your black canvas to a large flat work surface. We taped ours to our patio floor.
• Step Two Place a bucket of chalk nearby and invite the kids over. They will find it hard to resist.
• Step Three When you’re done hang it up to display!

Tips:

• Hang it up for a week then wash the canvas to remove the chalk. Try it again!
• If you wash the fabric the cut edges will fray. You an either run the edges through a sewing machine to make a seam OR let the cloth dry in the sun and trim any loose threads after washing.
• This is fabulous group art activity! It would be a blast in classrooms or preschool.
• Make these into banners! They can be washed and changed as needed. Bonus: No paper waste!

Looks Like

Jean-Michel Basquiat. Basquiat is my husband’s all-time favorite artist. Maybe it’s because Basquiat embodied the gritty New York feel we use to love when we lived in the Big Apple years ago but he was truly a unique artist and individual. He lived and worked in NYC in the 1980’s and passed away of an overdose at age 27. Andy Warhol was his de facto mentor and nurtured him after Basquiat handed him a few samples of his work at a chance meeting in a restaurant. Basquiat’s paintings have a graffiti scribbled feel and I’ve always loved the mix of color, image, and symbols that he used in his work. They are raw and powerful. If you aren’t familiar with Basquiat prepare to be taken under his spell. See more here: http://basquiat.com

Conclusion & More

I love group art activities for kids and WASHABLE GRAFFITI made with chalk is an easy, sure-to-please idea that can be done with a minimal amount of materials, plus the clean up is FAST!

If you like easy art activities hop over to our round-up 12 EASY ART IDEAS

And here are a few more easy art activities that have caught my eye recently:

• Geometric Recycled Art 
• 2 Easy Art Experiments with Watercolors
• Aluminum Foil Zentangle

And don’t miss out on more easy art activities here on Babble Dabble Do! Your child’s inner Jean-Michel Basquiat thanks you! Subscribe below or like us on FB!

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