Chalkboards just aren’t for writing notes. We have found in our home that a chalkboard has many useful functions for children.
There are several areas in our home that have become chalkboards, one of them is my son’s closet door. We thought that they would be a funky addition to some rooms, but they have turned out to be useful tools.
There are many activities that a chalkboard can be used for. The list could probably be longer but here are the some of the ways we use our boards.
1. The obvious note board. We will write a quick note to ourselves on the one large chalkboard in our lower level, we pass it to leave the house.
2. Memorizing school work. We will write out whatever has to remembered, like a verse or some text. After our children read through it once they can erase 1 or 2 words, then recite the text again. By the end the words are all gone and they usually will remember the entire verse. The kids like to control the words they remove, which makes the activity painless.
3. When one of my children has trouble getting an idea out to me I like them to use the board to draw it for me. Sometimes words and paper and pencil do not work, but the chalkboard will usually help us in visualizing the idea. The chalk can be easily erased that we can make changes quickly and in a few minutes be finished.
4. Around the holidays and our birthdays the chalkboards become billboards for the kids’ decorations. They are allowed to draw holiday scenes as there own way of decorating. They can’t really make a mess and the ideas can be quickly changed.
5. Countdown calendars. We like to mark an up coming event, like a birthday, with a daily countdown. For some reason our children will fight over who can change the date or number, but it keeps us all involved.
6. Homework. For some reason we have found that it is easier to do some homework, like math and spelling on the chalkboard. Visually it is larger and corrections can be made quickly.
7. When our children were learning to write and then later advancing to cursive, we would have them write words on the board. The feel of the large chalk on the board stimulated them to grasp the ideas quicker than when they used a pencil on paper.
We use our chalkboards daily. If they are blank, one of us, even the adults, will stop and write or draw something. These simple chalkboards are not just for fun, they can be used as learning tools while the children are enjoying them.
A chalkboard can be added almost anywhere in your home, cheaply and easily. You can read more on how to paint a chalkboard in my article “Chalkboards Anywhere” on Associated Content.
