This Fizzing Sidewalk Paint recipe is by far one of our kids’ most favorite play recipes of all times. This outdoor paint activity works great for kids of all ages and adds a little fizzy to artful science! You can paint masterpieces on your driveway, sidewalk or playground surface. This DIY sidewalk chalk paint is great for home or at school recess or outdoor classroom activity.

Fizzing Sidewalk Paint
Let’s play with fizzing sidewalk paint!

Make Fizzing Sidewalk PAINT

Sidewalk chalk is fun, painting is fun, and making things fizz is also fun! Let’s do all three!

Related: Exploding baggies science experiment for kids & The Art of Block Printing for Kids

This is a really simple recipe to create sidewalk chalk “paint” out of food coloring, baking soda and cornstarch.  We have made the standard sidewalk chalk paint before, but this recipe is better – it fizzes when you spray it with vinegar.

This article contains affiliate links.

Supplies Needed for Fizzing Sidewalk Chalk Paint

Video: How to Make Fizzing Sidewalk Paint

How To Make Awesome Fizzing Sidewalk Paint

Step 1

sidewalk chalk painting- step 1- Mixed paint, blue, red, yellow in bowls- Kids Activities Blog
Mix dry ingredients and water together.

Mix the dry ingredients and then add water, stir until the mixture is not too thick. I think we used about a cup water.    

Step 2

Fizzing Sidewalk Paint 2
This sidewalk paint is so vibrant and more opaque than I thought it would be.

Using a paintbrushes, foam brushes, sponges, squeeze bottle paint with the DIY chalk paint on your desired surface creating whatever pictures works best. Layer the next color as desired or do some color mixing.

sidewalk chalk painting- step 2- Pour and paint the mixture on the sidewalk- Kids Activities Blog
Pour and paint your mixture on the ground.

As you paint your sidewalk pictures you will notice that this homemade chalk paint dries very quickly – but washes off with ease!

I love the brilliant colors of this homemade sidewalk paint. Vibrant colors everywhere!

Step 3

Fizzing Sidewalk Paint 3
You can make a rainbow with this sidewalk paint.

Now for the fun! You can put away your paint brush…

sidewalk chalk painting- step 3- Little girl spraying vinegar on the mixture- Kids Activities Blog
Spray vinegar onto the mixture.

Spray the paint with a bottle of vinegar and watch the fizz appear in your desired color chalk paint.

Our Experience with Fizzing Sidewalk Paint

Sidewalk chalk painting fizzing on the ground with red, yellow, and blue- kids activities blog
We had so much fun with this sidewalk chalk painting.

To say this activity was a hit is an understatement. They are thrilled. The prep was surprisingly easy and we made more than one batch.

And clean up was a bucketful breeze. There is a bit of a mess, but it can be washed away easily with the pour of water making it washable paint!

Ways to Extend Learning Through Play

Want to add more “learning to this activity?  

Talk about the reaction between acids and base chemicals. This is a fun way to incorporate chemistry into your preschoolers life (or just enjoy the fizz).

Kids Activities Blog Book

101 Kids Activities That are the Bestest Funnest Ever

If you like this kids activity, we bet you’ll like the other 100 activities and recipes found in our book – a real, in-paper book!   101 Kids Activities that are the Bestest Funnest Ever! is now available.

If you make fizzing sidewalk paint, tell me about it!

Fizzing Sidewalk Paint Recipe for Kids

Fizzing Sidewalk Paint Recipe for Kids

Make this easy fizzing sidewalk paint to make beautiful chalk pictures! This fun sidewalk chalk paint activity is great for kids of all ages and budget-friendly.

Materials

  • A container of baking soda – we used an 8 oz box
  • 1/2 cup of cornstarch
  • Warm (almost hot) Water
  • Food coloring
  • Vinegar

Instructions

  1. Mix the dry ingredients and then add water, stirring until it’s not too thick.  I think we used about a cup.    
  2. Spray the paint with a bottle of vinegar and watch the fizz appear.

More Sidewalk Chalk Paint & Outdoor Fun from Kids Activities Blog

How did your fizzing sidewalk paint turn out? Did the kids have a really good time playing outside?



You Might Also Like

Leave a comment

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


63 Comments

  1. we did this today and LOVED it! we’ll definitely be linking people in your direction when we blog about it!

  2. We just did this and the girls loved it. I didn’t use as much baking soda so the reaction was not as intense as it probably would have been, but they still enjoyed it. Next time I will make sure I have enough baking soda to make it the right way. It was still a great activity for a lazy summer morning! Thanks for sharing!!!

  3. I am definitely going to do this with my kids – got to get all the ingredients together! I’ll let you know what they think of it!

  4. What a fantastic idea! The end result has so much texture, this is definitely one to try! Tweeted this too 🙂

  5. OK, we’ll definitely try it again! It was kind of a last minute project today, so my friend & I just grabbed what we had in the cabinet! The boys still had fun, so it was worth it 🙂

  6. hmmm . . . we tried this today and it didn’t get that fizzy. 🙁 We didn’t put as much baking soda in as called for . . . I guess we need to add more?

    1. Yup! You can’t skimp on it as that is the “base” chemical, the vinegar is the acid. When you combine the two they “fizz”. White vinegar has a higher acid content… and the pool quality of sodium bicarbonate is the strongest form of “baking soda” – good luck making it another time.