2025, Art, Kids, Uncategorized

Chalk It Up

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This is a late “tradition” story.

Eight years ago, my new neighbors moved in.  Two parents, one daughter; later a second daughter rounded out the family.  Early on it was clear that Minnie (the older daughter) and I had a clear affinity for chalk.  Often when Minnie was out doing chalk artwork on their driveway, I would go over for a bit and join in. 

When my next birthday rolled around, Minnie and her folks came over and did chalkwork all over my front sidewalk.  It was wonderful – lots of colors, flowers and rainbows.  After that, every year, we would have a chalk party.  A couple of other kids in the neighborhood joined in.  I even found glitter chalk online to add to the festivities.

This summer, the family moved a few blocks away and while I briefly thought about asking if the girls wanted to come over, I let it go as they are so busy with camps until school starts.  On Monday afternoon, YA texted me from downstairs (she was working from home and I was upstairs) that Marie (younger daughter) was at the door.  I hurried down and found the whole family outside, working on a spectacular birthday chalk display, down the whole sidewalk, up and down some of the driveway, even on the steps up to the house.

There is a fun “dance zone”

An exhortation to sing

And the obligatory hopscotch

Marie and I did the hopscotch several times and after some more chat and hugs, they all headed home.  That’s when I teared up a little – it was so special that they came over to do this for me.  Hopefully this tradition can keep going for a few more years.  I’m assuming that once Minnie and Marie hit their teenage years, coming over to do art on their “neighborhood gramma’s” sidewalk won’t be all that appealing!

When was the last time you jumped hopscotch?  Any notable chalk artwork in your  past?

25 thoughts on “Chalk It Up”

  1. How sweet! Happy Birthday, VS! I don’t need to say “I hope it’s a special day for you, ” because it obviously was special.

    I haven’t hopscotched in probably 20 years. I imagine it would have been with my first Little Brother, Zach.

    As kids, we used to chalk the driveway and sidewalk regularly, including hopscotch now and then, but I don’t recall any notable chalk incidents. Just good, “clean” but dusty fun.

    Chris in Owatonna

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  2. Rise and Chalk It Up, Baboons,

    During my son’s high school career, he and his friends took Latin to meet their language requirements. His friends would use chalk to write in our driveway in Latin. I always suspected it was the girls in his friend group doing that, but I did not ever catch them doing it. They also went through a ” “forking” phase in which massive quantities of plastic forks were placed in grid patterns in our grass. In the back seat of his car, Son had a paper grocery bag full of forks and chalk, so the lawns and driveways of his friends were apparently getting the same treatment. It all made me laugh, and it was so harmless (as opposed to, say, toilet paper in the trees). For a time they were also doing fund raisers with pink flamingos which you could pay a group to post in someone’s yard. I have not seen that one for awhile.

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  3. I walk through a nearby city park fairly often. Young mothers and kids gather to chat and play on the equipment. They frequently bring chalk and color the trails that wind through the area. Sometimes they draw hopscotch on the trail. I think I did the hopscotch about a year ago. I always feel bad about walking on their artwork.

    I’m more of a gravel roadie type of person. Chalk doesn’t work well there.

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  5. I stepped away for a while. When I returned, WP asked me to put in my email address so that they could send me a code to verify that I was a subscriber. They said that some content is “subscriber-only.” I’m logged out every time I look away from the blog, but I’ve never seen this message before.

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  6. I had to subscribe on my iPad but it did do the code thing. On my iPhone it required me to do it but rejected me anyway.
    Clyde on my iPad

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  8. Yes, happy birthday. How sweet of them to do that. My daughter and friends did hopscotch on the 30 feet of sidewalk in front of our house. I did it with her. About 45 years ago.
    I once did chalk art on sidewalk leading up to church. Alice was not pleased. Everyone else like it.

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  10. I know we had various buckets of sidewalk chalk over the years, but nothing special stands out.
    I have a box of chalk in the back seat of my truck for some reason… and some out in the shop for marking when a pencil or sharpie isn’t the right tool. (Like on rough concrete or boards). Exact measurements shouldn’t be a requirement when using chalk…

    In the theater, we use a length of bamboo, the end split, chalk stuck in and rubber bands to hold wrapped around to hold it in place, and I / we mark out things without bending over.

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  11. Hey everybody… sorry if I left you all hanging today – I had about a squizillion errands. Anyway, spent some time with WordPress AI and apparently today’s post got a switch turned on that shouldn’t have been turned on. I’ve fixed it and HOPEFULLY that will help. It’s WordPress, so no promises. I’m wondering if this is what caused the names changes — names attached to old subscriber data????

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  12. 40 years since hop scotch but i encourge all hop scotch participants

    chalk and crayons i am the supplier i love doing art with it it really does call out to you
    i see it a lot on my deliveries
    my mom is an art therapist and art tells if your kids are happy or sad, if everything is ok … i see lots of really happy art on driveways steps etc

    happy birthday vs

    nice tradition

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  13. I recently jumped hopscotch on a sidewalk here as we were passing – who can resist? (not very accurately, mind you…)

    One more song – first lyrics:
    Chalk on the sidewalk, writin’ on the wall,
    Everybody know that I love Paul…

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