How to Use a Chalk Line // Sidewalk Games

text by Vicki     Sign up here to join our weekly email newsletter! ​

This post is sponsored by The Home Depot.

As part our sponsorship with The Home Depot Prospective campaign, we receive quarterly shipments of tools to try. Our preference is to use the tool in a project rather than just do a review. It's really a lot of fun for us to brainstorm how we are going to use the tools. Usually, it's pretty simple, but sometimes we get a tool that stumps us!

The Milwaukee 100' Chalk Reel is one of those tools. A chalk line makes a nice crisp line between two points. It's used most often by carpenters, roofers and flooring installations. When we built our garage wall last year, we definitely could have used a chalk line.

But, since no construction projects are in our near future, we came up with a simple way to show the tool in action. 

Materials:

• Milwaukee 100 ft. Extra Bold Large Capacity Chalk Reel (Home Depot)
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• DEWALT 8 oz. Chalk in Orange (Home Depot)
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• DEWALT 20-Volt MAX Bluetooth Speaker (Home Depot)
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• Husky 10 in. 19-Compartment Canvas Small Parts Organizer Tool Bag, Black (Home Depot)
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The chalk reel holds 18 ounces of chalk so it easily held this entire bottle. Filling is easy and I managed not to spill it everywhere!

There are different colored chalk with ranges of permanency. We chose this high visibility chalk with a two on the permanency scale. It washes away easily with water, and is completely gone after it rains.

To try out the chalk reel, we are snapping lines for a couple of sidewalk games. Later the grandchildren will come over to help us finish up. To use the chalk reel, pull the string out to the desired location, angle the reel down, pull taut, pick the string up and snap it! We are snapping lines for "Four Square."

Steph paired her phone with the DeWalt 20-Volt Max Bluetooth Speaker so we could have a little music while we worked. I'm actually quite impressed with the sound quality of this little speaker.

Once we had snapped the lines for both "Four Square" and "Hopscotch," the kids arrived to chalk in the details.

Time to play! Next to the DeWalt bluetooth speaker is the cutest little Husky bag. It is designed for small parts, but it makes a great portable tote for chalk, bubble solution, and other fun outdoor kid things! Tip: I put large plastic cups in two of the six sections to hold sidewalk chalk. It's less messy that way and the kids can easily remove the cups for play.

A little "Four Square" action! I'm not sure we were following the rules, but it was a lot of fun!

We acknowledge that The Home Depot is partnering with us to participate in the ProSpective 2018 Campaign. As a part of the Program, we are receiving compensation in the form of products and services, for the purpose of promoting The Home Depot. All expressed opinions and experiences are our own words. Our post complies with the Word Of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA) Ethics Code and applicable Federal Trade Commission guidelines.

FYI: We are not professionals, and we don’t claim to be. This is what we found worked for our project. Yours may need a little different approach. Safety first!

FYI: Affiliate links are being used on this page. Purchasing via these links help support MDP!

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