{DIY} How To Build An Outdoor Chalkboard

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 Every year as soon as it get’s warm I am always looking for fun activities for my children to do outside (especially in the back yard where I don’t have to watch them every second.).

 

Last year I had my husband (since I wasn’t up to personally doing any DIY project due to pregnancy) make an outdoor chalkboard for our fence.  I figured this would be perfect for outside fun in the sun. Best of all when it came time to clean up we could just spray the chalkboard down.  My kids approved f the plan and so my handy husband got to work. Thankfully this was a quick and easy project.

Items Needed:

• flat latex paint (any color)
• Unsanded Grout
• plywood board (cut to size you want the chalkboard)
• paint stick (to mix the paint and grout)
• Paint brush
• screws (to attach the chalkboard to the fence)

Instructions:

We decided that we wanted to mix our own blackboard pain (vs buying premade mixture) because we wanted it to be more durable. After all, we wanted it to be durable in all weather. After doing a bit of online research we decided to follow Martha Stewart’s Recipe and instructions where you mix unsanded grout with flat latex paint.

 

For the chalkboard, we just bought a plywood board at Lowes and cut it to fit on the panel of our backyard fence. Then we painted the front, back and sides with the paint/Grout mixture multiple (I think 3) times to make sure the wood was fully sealed to protect it from weather damage. After the paint had dried we screwed the board in the desired place on the back fence. Before our first use we gently rubbed chalk over the chalkboard to weather/prep it)

 

I am soo happy with how this project turned out. The kids spent many an hour outside drawing away in the sun. We put a bucket with water and a washcloth next to the board when the kids were out there so that when they ran out of room to draw they could clean the board off and start all over again.

 

Now that it is summer again we have brought out the chalk once more and already it is a favorite past time for my kids!

 

 

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