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Sidewalk Chalk Paths

Children and adults draw a path of lines, circles and wide stepping zones on the ground, then take turns traveling it and adding new sections for each other.

• AgesPreschool, Early school age, Mixed-age family
• Players1 to 6 players
• Time10 min setup, 20 min play
• WhereSidewalk, away from traffic, Backyard, Park, Indoors

Who it is for

One child with a caregiver, or a group of up to six. An adult picks the location, checks the surface, and stays outside with the group. Preschoolers do best when an adult draws the first section and travels it first.

Preschool through early school age is a suggested starting point with an adult guiding: the adult chooses the location and the movements.

What you need

• Washable sidewalk chalk in two or three colors. No chalk? A cup of water and a paintbrush draws lines on dry pavement that last a few minutes, which makes a fine vanishing path.
• For indoor or classroom floors: painter’s tape or masking tape instead of chalk, used only where tape is allowed and comes up cleanly.
• On grass: a jump rope, a garden hose or a row of leaves can stand in for drawn lines.

Space and surface

A flat stretch of pavement about ten adult steps long, fully separated from cars: a backyard patio, a park path, a schoolyard or a section of sidewalk that does not cross a driveway. Sweep away gravel and sticks, and check the ground temperature with your hand on warm days.

Set it up

1. Adult job first: choose a spot away from traffic and driveways and decide where the path may and may not go. Say the boundary out loud.
2. Draw a start box big enough for two feet or a set of wheels.
3. Draw the first section: a long straight line to follow, about six steps.
4. Add three or four islands: circles roughly the size of a dinner plate, spaced one comfortable step apart.
5. Add a wide zone: two parallel lines an arm’s length apart, like a river with banks.
6. Add a stop spot: a square with an X where every traveler pauses and counts to three.
7. Draw a finish box, and leave empty pavement after it so players can extend the path later.

How to play

1. One traveler at a time starts in the start box. Everyone else waits behind it.
2. The traveler chooses how to move through each section: walk, tiptoe, hop, step sideways, roll or go slow motion. Any way that follows the path counts.
3. At the stop spot, the traveler freezes and the group counts to three together.
4. Stepping off a line is not a fault. The traveler just rejoins the path at the nearest point.
5. After finishing, the traveler picks up the chalk and adds or changes one section for the next person.
6. Nobody is eliminated. The game is the path getting longer and stranger.

How it ends

Finish when everyone has traveled the path twice, or when the chalk runs out. For a shared ending, the whole group travels the final path in a line, follow-the-leader style, with the youngest player choosing the movement for the first section.

Make it easier or harder

Easier

• Draw only the straight line and the islands, and make the islands big enough for both feet.
• An adult travels alongside holding a hand.
• Skip the stop spot until the group knows the path.

Harder

• Add a zigzag or a spiral section.
• Color rule: one color of island is for the left foot or left wheel, another for the right.
• A partner standing at the finish calls out the movement for each section as the traveler reaches it.
• Travel the whole path backward, slowly, with a partner walking beside you.

Indoors and outdoors

Indoors or in a classroom, lay the same path with painter’s tape on a hard floor and shorten it to fit. On a wet day, the water-and-brush version works under a covered porch. On grass, ropes and hoses make the lines and flattened paper bags held down with a shoe on each corner make the islands.

Mixed ages and different abilities

• Draw two tracks through the tricky sections: wide islands close together beside smaller islands farther apart. Each traveler picks a track.
• Older children become path designers and must draw a section that the youngest player in the group can finish.
• Grandparents can be the stop spot counter or the caller who names the movements.
• Wheels welcome: draw lines to follow and wide zones to roll through instead of islands to hop on. One way to try this is to make every section at least as wide as the widest set of wheels in the group.
• Seated or low-movement option: travel the path by pointing along it with a finger, a cane or a flashlight beam, or by moving a small marker such as a rolled sock along it from a seated position.
• No one is required to hop. Hopping is one choice among many, and walking the path is a complete turn.
• For players who prefer predictability, keep the first path unchanged for several turns before anyone adds new sections.

When it goes wrong, and how to reset

The common failure is a path that is too hard at the start: islands too far apart, so the youngest travelers quit at the second circle. Draw a second, closer row of islands right beside the first in a new color rather than erasing anything, and let everyone choose which row to use.

By TeeterTop editorial. Updated October 11, 2026.

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