Sidewalk Chalk Playscapes

We have the perfect driveway for sidewalk chalk. It is large, smooth, and we don't have a car, so it is always empty. I'm always excited to go draw a new playscape for Jonah after it rains and he spends hours playing with them. Here are a few of our recent favorites...

Radiator Springs (from the movie Cars) and Sodor (the magical island from the land of Thomas the Train) have been Jonah's playscapes of choice over the past few months. I've tried so hard to keep marketed figures out of our home, but when we moved here they were playing Cars on the airplane and Thomas books are Jonah's favorite thing to look for at the library... oh well. We've also made camp scenes and farms roads.

And our latest fun is drawing a magical island with all sort of places (everything from Pippi's cottage, the twelve tribes of Israel, the dragon of the cairngorm mountains, Nessie, The faraway tree, the magic tree house, the bakers, a bank, lost boys house, Rabbit's garden, a roc...) Jonah then goes on a magical adventure to help someone there, which means Mum or Dad play the parts of all the people he visits along the way and make up tasks to complete the quest. Jonah loves this and has learned cardinal directions and some great vocabulary (inlet, peninsula, bay...) along the way.