Chalkboard Tins

I guest posted this project over at The CSI Project blog last week for their weekly challenge which last week was creating something useful out of leftover Christmas items. 

These Activity Chalkboard Tins are created using tins that you may receive over the holiday season filled with treats. By revamping these tins using chalkboard paint, you will create a useful activity tin that you can keep in the car for road trips, grab and bring in a restraunt, or even pull it out and take it in church to occupy your little ones - and since I used chalkboard paint, they can even draw (with chalk of course) on the lid of the tin!

To get started, you will need:

leftover Christmas tins (or look for some on super clearance)
chalkboard spray paint
chalk
stickers and/or ribbon to embellish the tin
crayons, paper, stickers, small toys, and tissues to fill the tin and occupy your kiddos

What You'll Do:
1. Clean the inside and outside of your tin. I was a bad spray painter and did not prime this first because I was short on time. Typically, I try and prime all projects first. Once you've primed, spray paint the tin with your chalkboard paint. You need two coats to create the chalkboard finish.

2. Let your paint dry and then follow the instructions on the bottle to "break in" the paint. I just rubbed the side of a piece of chalk all over the tin, wiped it off, and it was good to go!

3. Next comes embellishing! My son loves all things baseball so I used baseball stickers on the side of the tin. I did a girly tin using rock star and diva themed stickers. I did not have any problems with the stickers adhering to the tin as is but if you do, you could add a little glue to the back of the stickers. On the girly tin, I also glued ribbon on the edge of the lid of the tin.

I purposely did not embellish the lids of the tins so that kids can use the chalk and draw on the lid.

3. Fill the tins with fun things for your kiddos such as small toys, bubbles, stickers, crayons, chalk, etc. Don't forget some tissues so they can wipe off their drawings and draw again later!

I hope you enjoy making this project and that your kiddos enjoy playing with it!

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