Home > Literacy Activities > Setting-up for Summer Learning with Chalks

Setting-up for Summer Learning with Chalks

We’re heading into Summer finally and the #playfulpreschool team are bringing you ideas to take your learning through the summer months and also outside. This weeks theme is Chalk and I can’t wait to see what the rest of the team come up with. Now for the last two years I’ve been celebrating the summer and slowing down and one of the ways that we do it is by not so much focusing on learning but let it happen by providing the tools and the inspiration and seeing where it takes us. This week I’m giving you some simple prompts and ideas that you can use to let your preschoolers explore different areas all using chalk and allow learning to take place organically.

Setting up for summer learning with chalks - give your children the resources and inspiration this summer with one of our favourite materials Chalks and watch the learning happen
Bucket of colorful crayons outdoors for drawing via Shutterstock

Suggested Materials

A bucket of sidewalk chalk
Spray Bottle
Water
Letter Flash Cards or similar
Magnetic Numbers
Letter and Number Floor Mats

Preparation

There is very little preparation for this what I generally do is use a big plastic plant pot (but a bucket would work just as well) and in the bucket I put in the chalks and then add in some inspiration for the learning.

On another day I may set this up and already on the patio or on the walls of the house wrote some numbers or put the letter or numbers out.

Setting up for summer learning with chalks - give your children the resources and inspiration this summer with one of our favourite materials Chalks and watch the learning happen

Letting Learning Happen

Don’t get me wrong there are some areas that I focus on with the kids over the summer, we read at least once a day and I will do some math, but our summer is more about FREE PLAY and outdoor learning as well as creating independent learning. In the picture above J was my preschooler and T was a little 2 year old toddler, the chalks were set up with some shapes cards and they then started to draw and copy the shapes. J had done the rectangle and T was trying to copy it.

Providing the materials and the prompts in the form of flashcards, magnetic letters, items to draw from and showing them what can happen when say you mix water with the chalks or that you can spray away the letters working on essential fine motor skills you have such a variety of different ways that the kids can free play and learn at the same time making sure that you slow down your summer but also continue on with the learning as you go.

More Chalk activities from the #playfulpreschool team this week

Chalk Letter Writing from Learning 2 Walk

Alphabet Activities: Chalk Road by Growing Book by Book

Chalk Painting Letters from Mom Inspired Life

Chalk Dust and Feather Writing: Learning Names in Preschool by The Preschool Toolbox

Setting-up for Summer Learning with Chalks from Rainy Day Mum

Bubbling Chalk: Science Experiment by Capri +3

Chalk Paint from Tiny Tots Adventure

Chalk Shadow Drawings by Still Playing School

Setting up for summer learning with chalks - give your children the resources and inspiration this summer with one of our favourite materials Chalks and watch the learning happen

Author
Cerys Parker

Cerys is a marine biologist, environmental educator, teacher, mum, and home educator from the UK. She loves getting creative, whether it is with simple and easy crafts and ideas, activities to make learning fun, or delicious recipes that you and your kids can cook together you'll find them all shared here on Rainy Day Mum.

6 Comments

  1. I love open ended play. I find also that we do a lot of open ended play during the summer. Just enjoying the weather is great and with a few items we can do a lot of playing and learning and never really notice how much time has gone by.

  2. Sidewalk chalk is such a great way to learn while playing during the summer!

  3. I love that you provide the materials or prompts for inspiration and then let them explore. We will have to try this out.

  4. I love that this is so opened ended and still educational! Thanks for the reminder!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

flat lay of the free printable summer bucket list with cute summer fruit puppets on a blue background

100 Quick & Easy Ideas for Summer Fun!

FREE Printable list of ideas for when the kids say “I’m Bored!” PLUS easy, fun activities and ideas straight to your inbox.