Spark Your Imagination: I Ain't Gonna Paint No More

Spark Your Imagination is a weekly program, held Mondays at 1pm, for all ages where we go beyond the pages of a book to explore and create. This program is new this summer and still growing.
This week there were 29 in attendance.

Rachel is the presenter for this program and felt it was the most successful Spark yet. Definitely one that could be repeated in the future.

 

 

Materials used:
-face paints
-watercolor pencils
-finger paint
-wipes
-brushes
-cups or tubs with water to clean the brushes and dip watercolor pencils in

What worked and what didn't
What worked was that I had painted myself with each medium to show them the sort of effects they could get, and our volunteer did the same.

What I would have done differently is put signs out. Even though I repeated over and over that these were safe for skin, and easy to clean up, I still had hesitant parents who almost didn't let their kids participate. The only reason I didn't put out signs was because I didn't want that to become the object they painted. The only other hiccup we experienced is that if the watercolor pencils get too soggy they are difficult to sharpen, but I just suggested they try the other paints.

This was the perfect book/activity combo. I printed out a take home sheet to make bathtub paint, so they would continue the activity at home.

 I really appreciated that most of the parents just let their kids at it, and didn't care that they painted all over their face, and the others who were hesitant lightened up once they saw the other kids get all messy.