Chalk of the Town t-shirts and tote bags were an instant hit with the neighborhood girls who have ironically been decorating our neighborhood with inspirational sayings in chalk! Now they were able to express themselves by using the bright, water based markers to draw and write on the chalkboard surface of their Chalk of the Town t-shirt or display the name of the book they were reading on the tote bag that said, “I’m reading…” Our project of drawing and naming our messages inspired lots of talk about their choices. We had “be happy,” with hearts, flowers and a smiley face, “Be graceful” from a dancer and “be gratfule” (invented spelling), “be kind” with “#BEST DAY!” Kids of all ages went right to work, and seemed to know just what they wanted to convey on their shirt. One girl wrote the title of the book she had just finished and struck up an conversation with me about the trilogy that she was reading When kids made a mistake, they just wiped it off with a damp cloth provided and started up again. Providing a medium for kids to express their emotions is critical to helping build a child’s EQ (Emotional Quotient) to build abilities to name and express their emotions and recognize them in others. There are so many possibilities for sharing thoughts, encouragement, celebration or thanks with these shirts–family reunions, birthday parties and so on. I think I’ll just draw a big donut on mine on Saturday morning so my husband gets the hint:)
Available at Chalk of the Town. Click here