Magnetic Chalkboard Trays

Hey guys! Guess what I did yesterday?

For the trip, obviously, and I actually made four of them. I’m just going to tell you right now, I’ve never used chalkboard paint of any kind up till now, and IT IS AWESOME. I bought a can of the Rust-Oleum chalkboard spray paint and it worked beautifully.

So to make the chalkboard trays, I bought four pans from the Dollar Tree:

Because, you know. Four kids. When we went to buy them, I had Max bring a little magnet in his pocket to make sure they would stick. Make sure your pans are clean and dry, and then spray them with the spray paint. I did two or three coats – you’re supposed to wait an hour in between coats, but those directions are written for 50% humidity. If we have 50% humidity here, it’s probably ACTUALLY raining. Out in the sun, these dried in no time flat to a perfect chalkboard-y surface.

(Warning: cover anything under your surface that you don’t want paint on, and spray outside because that’s the way you should use spray paint.)

After 24 hours (I’ll give you one guess as to whether I waited that long) you can prime the chalkboard surface by rubbing it all over with the side of a stick of chalk.

Erase that, and you’re good to go!

I love this paint. I still have some left in the can, and I am bound and determined to find something else to paint with it once we get to Missouri, because it’s AWESOME.

Anyway, I chose to use the pans so that they’d stick to magnets as well as be usable with chalk, but I’m afraid you’ll just have to wait and see where that one leads!