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Home | Store | Forum | What's New | Contact | About | Terms | Links | Storytime | UNCRC  Recipes for children's play messy creative activities                Playground & pavement chalk recipe   The wonder of playground or pavement chalks is well known, the sticks that create hopscotch games and amazing street art, they're one of the least expensive mark making tools around and may  well be favoured as a childhood tradition. Use this familiarity to show children the ingredients involved in making chalk and orgainise an activity that enables them to personalise their own recipes with coloured powder paint and novelty shaped plaster moulds.    Ingredients needed  Plaster of paris - amazon.co.uk  Powdered paint  Water to bind  Cardboard tubing - home setting requests  Tray  Scissors, sticky tape & food film To make .. 1. Prepare the moulds by cutting card tubes into desired lengths - ours were around 6cm tall with a diameter of 4.5cm Secure the base by doubling up a piece of plastic food wrap and sitting the tube ontop. Fold the wrap upwards and secure them in place with sticky tape. Repeat this for as many moulds as you need  Silicone trays provide an alternative to card tubes. 2. Prepare your plaster mix We put 50g of powder paint + 100g plaster and mixed enough water to achieve a thick, gloopy consistency. 3. Pour into the mould and once it's full knock on the side gently to release any airbubbles. 4. Leave to set. Plaster of paris is notoriously quick setting which can be slowed a little by making sure your plaster isn't too old or by adding a few drops of washing up liquid.   5. Unwrap from the mould once the mould is cold to the touch unwrap, or turn it out of the mould. They will be ready to use immediately. Learning - time and heat Use clocks to see how long the mixture takes to turn from fluid to solid and feel the temeprature of the plaster as it cures and sets. Chalk and black paper names Regular board chalks, quality black card & other early years reources are available through viking-direct.co.uk  they can be used collectively for creative writing activities that involve letter recognition, collage and display.