Ohmystinkinheck

I picked the kids up from school today and the first thing they wanted to know was “IS THIS THE DAY WE CAN WRITE ON THE WALL?”

And unlike most mothers I know or have known, I was able to say, in no uncertain terms, “Absolutely. Today you get to write on the wall.” Just how cool is that?

Very cool, that’s how.

So, we set out to find chalk, which if you haven’t attempted this task you might not know is next to impossible. I understand that the classrooms are switching over to dry erase, but what in the stinkin’ heck? Is there something about chalk I should know about? Is it only sold in specialty stores? We hit a few spots and nearly gave up before we stopped at a local graphics place that has a single aisle of teacher’s supplies. I believe we purchased the last box of plain white chalk and the last eraser.

We were sorely disappointed, having thought of all the wonderful things we could COLOR on our walls, but it wasn’t to be - at least not today.

We made do with white.

There is enough space for my three to draw on - and then, there’s more. That’s the greatest part about having a chalkboard WALL as opposed to just a chalkboard.

I will admit that the kids did designate their “area” and were pretty rigid about that “area” not being violated. I’m sure if duct tape were at their fingertips we might have even had a few stripes down the wall.

Being an only child I have absolutely no understanding of this need to mark off one’s territory.

Of course, seeing as how I painted the wall, I pulled seniority and was able to write FIRST. What was the first thing written on the wall?

Wouldn’t you like to know.

*nanny nanny boo boo*

Quickly it was erased for things like Meredith’s drawing above (mom with baby in pouch - NOT a kangaroo), Emelie’s squigglies and Kenny’s rocket and other geometric, symmetric drawings.

After a while they began playing school and Kenny became the student while both Emelie and Meredith were partner teachers drilling him in Math facts.

Should you ever make your way to the house, Emelie mapped out some pretty solid directions…y’know, because it is pretty rough navigating 1230 sq. feet.

They were pretty reluctant to go to bed until I reminded them the wall wasn’t going anywhere…we didn’t rent it or anything; it is a totally permanent component to the kitchen now. Best of all? NO LATE FEES.

Sorry, I’m still a bit miffed about some late fees to the library. Pfeh!

After the kids went to bed Jeff and I stretched ourselves artistically by drawing various over-exaggerated body parts; yeah, okay so we regressed a few years, but man did we laugh. And then? We erased it to protect our children’s innocence.

I’m only admitting that to you now to prove that as much as my kids love this chalkboard, I can honestly say the two adults in the family are just as giddy about it. That and we need to, at some point, grow up.

And one day we will, but we hope it’s after our kids leave us so we can enjoy all the things they do along the way.

34 Responses to “Chalk Talk”

1. ashpags

   I am so stinkin’ jealous! That’s one of the coolest things I can think of to put in a house. =)

2. Lisa

   Watch for when Wal-Mart puts out its back-to-school supplies. They’ll have chalk aplenty. My friend who has a chalkboard wall in her house buys cases over the summer because it’s so hard to find inexpensively during the rest of the year.

3. Josh

   I like the abstract design Emelie’s drawing.

   Looks like Kenny’s a lefty. Is he your only one?

4. Melanie

   De lurking to say that’s one of the coolest memory makers I have ever seen.

5. hana

   Gosh…that looks like fun! What a great way to have fun as a family. The sidewalk down the street from my house is always full of chalk drawing now a days… you know with those big thick pieces of sidewalk chalk? I saw a whole bunch of it at the local office supply place (not to be confused with Staples/Office Max/Office Depot)

6. Jacinta

   very, veRY, VERY C.O.O.L!!!

7. witchypoo

   Have to confess, Meredith’s drawing made me wonder who was with child.
   This is the best idea ever! I hope it never gets old, and think of the album you can create to document the masterpieces!

8. Starwoodgal

   Sidewalk chalk at Wal-Mart is sometimes in the toy section this time of year. I’ve also seen it in the kids section of “office supplies”. Your kids are going to be telling all the other kids “how cool their parents are” because they have a chalkboard wall. Cool!

   Ps. check out the baby bunnies on my blog. They are living in my garden grass. So cute!

9. TheAngelForever

   Glad to hear that the entire family is enjoying the new fun addition to your house. Enjoy and please do not grow up, occasional regression by adults is needed :)

10. OMSH

    Lisa - Thanks for the chalk tip. The kids want the thin chalk…is that what you’re talking about? They don’t want the big thick sidewalk chalk because I got them those “teacher” chalk holders.

    Josh - Kenny and Jeff are both lefties. The rest of us are righties. I cannot tell you the sheer delight Jeff had to realize that his boy, our last baby, was a lefty. Now someone will finally understand his plight of being a left-handed person in a right-handed world (or something like that).

    Melanie - I’m so glad you delurked! Thanks!

    Starwoodgal - I’ll go and take a look at your bunnies.

    TheAngelForever - Permission to regress? THANK YOU!~

11. FireMom

    My Husband is a leftie.

    I wanted to go ahead and do this in the playroom but FireDad thought that two might be a little young to grasp the concept that we only write on THAT part of the wall and nowhere else… and, as such, we got an easel instead. We got our chalk at that Big Store That Has Everything from Butter to Underwear. You know it. In the Crayola aisle. Colors and everything.

12. Mandy

    This is so stinkin AWESOME. Oh, now I must try it! Hope you find some chalk too! By the way.. I love that squiggly thing Emelie is doing!

13. Natalie

    Green with stinkin’ envy here. I knew this day would come, but it still caught me unaware… lol.
    I know I have seen a PBS episode of some crafty couple that makes their own chalk and I can only remember that it was stunningly easy-cheap-easy, so you might want to Google this. They made big chalk, little chalk and colored chalk!

14. Michelle

    This is *so* awesome! I love it that you and hubs played, too! LOLOL

15. Sparkliesunshine

    link

    Love the wall!!! :)

16. OMSH

    SparklieSunshine - I looked at drawing chalk, but they all say (that link too)…”
    Great for paper and surfaces other than chalkboards. Vibrant colors. 6 sticks of each color. Color(s): Assorted; Number of Colors: 24; Compliance, Standards: AP Certified Nontoxic; Age Recommendation: Ages 4 and Up.”

17. Sparkliesunshine

    Rats! Sorry!

18. Marcie

    That is super cool! I bet your kids are loving it! Shoulda done that in our kitchen. >_<

19. Atomic Bombshell

    This turned out so awesome! Great job, mom!

20. Elizabeth

    SO fun!!! Nice work, girl!

21. JackieW.

    We have cool sidewalk chalk holders at our house…we call them napkins !

    My mother is a lefty. I can hand sew with both hands. I am left eyed or left eared.

    Dh has one brother that is left handed.

22. Val

    Does it erase well? Just wondering…we are thinking about doing this in the kids playroom, but I saw a table done with this paint and although it was erased, you could still “see” what used to be there.
    And THAT would drive me nuts!

    Thanks!

23. OMSH

    Val - This is why I did my homework - I’ve both seen and experienced the same thing.

    If you follow all the directions, it WILL erase well.
    This includes priming it after waiting the three days, because priming it with chalk and then erasing it makes it erase even better.

    Also, be sure not to use drawing chalk on the board - like sidewalk chalk. It is different and is incredibly hard to get off the board.

24. Lisa

    I saw in the most recent Family Fun magazine that someone had painted their backyard fence with chalkboard paint, but your wall is even more fun!

    My dh is left-handed and ALL of our 10 children are right-handed. When I once mentioned that I thought our ninth might be picking Cheerios up off of her high chair tray more frequently with her left hand, he kind of teared up. But, alas….

25. KYouell

    Funny about the left-hand thing. I always wanted to be left-handed because my favorite cousin is, but I can’t manage it. Now I’m looking for it in my kids with great hope in my heart. I want them to be artists, not stuck in left-brain-land like me.

26. KYouell

    Forgot to mention that the date that comments will close is new since I’ve come back and I love it!

27. Lisa

    OMSH, yes, Wal-Mart (at least in this area) will be selling boxes of chalk meant for teacher use in classrooms — the skinny sticks.

28. mary

    Really…I cannot get enough of this darn wall. Amazing!!

29. Shannon

    Very cool! We have a dry erase board in Bradley’s room behind his door. We also have the window markers from Crayola. Those are really cool!

30. jessica

    It’s so great, I’m loving it. I’m able to find chalkboard chalk at my grocery store in the paper/craft/school supply aisle.

    At church they tell us we absolutely cannot use colored chalk on the chalkboards at the classroom for those same reasons — it doesn’t erase well. But don’t you think it would wash off with a wet sponge?

31. MMM

    Em has pretty handwriting. My OCD would not allow for all of that chalk dust on the pretty board! I would have to clean it every night!

32. Something Cool to Do

    [...] Patterns I picked the kids up from school today and the first thing they wanted to know was “IS THIS THE DAY WE CAN WRITE ON THE WALL?” And unlike most mothers I know or have known, I was able to say, in no uncertain terms, “Absolutely. Today you get to write on the wall.” Just how cool is that? Very cool, that’s how. So, we set out to find chalk, which if you haven’t attempted this task you might not know is next to impossible.  Read more here [...]

33. naomi

    growing old is mandatory. growing up is optional.

    many teachers are allergic to chalk and it produces a large amount of dust. dry erase makers produce less dust. sad but true.

    i love the idea of a chalkboard wall. i’m so going to do that when we get our own house someday.

34. Mrs. Wilson

    That is SUCH a cool idea!

    I got to draw on my wall once. We were renovating and removing the wall paper, so my friends and I got to draw all over it.

    Fun!