Make streets for toy cars with sidewalk chalk

My daughter Ally, 4, has always loved sidewalk chalk. We draw the hopscotch squares and pictures and write our names. And we do this over and over again. 

So this summer I came up with a new idea for sidewalk chalk. Ally and I used sidewalk chalk to draw an elaborate “neighborhood” of streets, houses, bridges, traffic lights and signs on our driveway. The whole “neighborhood” was just the right size for Hot Wheels cars.

Ally and I sat there driving our different Hot Wheels cars down the streets – stopping for traffic lights – and then continuing on to park in the garages that we had drawn next to each house. We even drew a fire station for her Hot Wheels fire engine. Ally loved deciding which car belonged to which house; making up stories for where the cars were going and naming each of the streets. I loved that it was a new way to play sidewalk chalk and a new way to let Ally be creative.