You could paint it with chalkboard paint. They have it at home improvement, hardware and paint stores.

 

Yes, the paint is great. I once visited a house where they had used the paint on the panels of the fridge, creating one giant art and message center in the kitchen. It was deep purple and really cool looking.

 

we got dd1 an easel with a whiteboard on one side and chalkboard on the other. the instructions that came with it said to take a piece of chalk and rub the side of it (not the end) all over the chalkboard in a circular motion. then wipe it off with a dry paper towel. that really did seem to prime the board when i did it with the right piece of chalk. some of the sidewalk chalk we had didn't seem to go on very well, but one of the little ones we had worked pretty well and now almost anything will write on it. don't know if your board is the same or not, but you could give it a try.

hth

 

It could be the chalk. I've noticed that cheap chalk doesn't write very well. Or you could try resurfacing the blackboard with blackboard paint. We have two blackboards that DH made with the stuff and it works fine!

 

Thank you Thank you!
I'll try the "priming" suggestion first along with some smaller chalk. It is a "new" chalkboard as it never did take chalk well.