Make Chores Fun with a Chalkboard Apron

My 3 year old has started helping out around the house with a few easy chores of her own. She loves to help me in the kitchen with washing vegetables and mixing ingredients so I was going to get her a little chef’s apron just to make it more fun. However, I know kids love costumes and an apron just might make other chores more fun too so why limit it to the kitchen? I thought of a crazy way to allow us to customize her apron for whatever activity she is doing.   I wasn’t sure how it would turn out but it is a total hit! We made a chalkboard apron and we can change the message on it anytime.   Sometimes it just says her name, other times it might say Chef, Green Thumb (when working in the garden), Artist, or just Mommy’s Helper.   She loves getting to decide what to put on her own special apron! It was easy to make too. You just need a child-sized apron, some chalkboard paint, and a paint brush.   You might want to use some other acrylic paints for extra decoration around the chalkboard but that is completely optional. I found this really great child sized apron at Michael’s craft store for just $1.00.   I really liked it because it is cheap but it is also reversible with front pockets on both sides.   However, if you find this apron, just know that it is very thin and the paint bled through to the other side so we can’t reverse it.   Of course, you can do this with any type of apron you find or already have on hand. I could just paint the chalkboard paint directly on the apron but I wanted to make a little border for the chalkboard.   So I made a rough outline of the outer edge of the border and then painted it with acrylic paint.   I don’t intend to wash this apron in the washing machine so I didn’t bother with special fabric paint. Next I used painter tape to mark off the section for the chalkboard. You could free hand this step or just make crazy shapes for the chalkboard.   The options are endless! The chalkboard paint is very thick so I had no problem with it oozing under the painter tape.   I found that a foam brush worked really well for this step.   I used three coats of chalkboard paint and made sure that it dried well between coats. I added a little bit of decoration to the border and got out the chalk! Rachel loves her chalkboard apron and I love the new use for chalkboard paint. What creative ways have you used chalkboard paint? Check out how these parents gave their kids allowance through snacks!