Paint Skiing

Last summer in the back and forth of a friendly marble painting one-upsmanship between the children of Woodland Park and Jenny's kids Down Under, we tried this particular "art" project indoors. The idea was to spread a large piece of paper on the floor, pour paint on it, position ourselves around the paper, then to kick a ball back and forth through the paint creating a super-dooper sized marble painting. Back then, we had to do it indoors given that our gym floor was the only large flat space we had, making it an exceedingly messy endeavor. I've been looking forward to giving it a go in our new outdoor classroom where I hoped the mess would at least be easier to clean up.

I decided to forego the paper this time and paint directly on the tarp, starting with a healthy does of pink and turquoise tempera paint.

Right away, we found that the ball tended to get stuck in the thick paint atop such an uneven surface.

But we persevered gamely for a time, taking turns wading out into the paint to retrieve the inert ball and returning it to the edges where it could be kicked again, get stuck again, then be retrieved again.

It went on that way for several minutes until someone, inevitably, took a seat in the stuff.

After that, the ball sort of became an unnecessary appendage as the children, at least the ones unintimidated by the prospects of getting messy, experimented with walking, sliding, and otherwise full-body painting on the very slippery surface.

Lachlan called it "paint skiing."

Charlie L. and Marcus' mom Shelly, a veteran of Woodland Park remarked, "I think this is the messiest thing we've ever done," which, you know, is saying something. 

Then while parents helped kids wash off their skin, and change their clothes (Woodland Park children are expected to bring at least one change of clothing each day), I hosed the tarp down, which attracted a different set of kids to come horse around on the tarp.