Chalk Paint Play
We had a lot of fun teaching our annual Animals, Art and Imagination week-long program! This year’s theme was insects and small critters, inspired by the current exhibit of Eric Carle’s work in the exhibition, The Art of Eric Carle: Bees, Butterflies, and Other Bugs. The week was packed with a series of activities and projects about bugs and animals, some lasting a few minutes, others carrying over multiple days. On the first day we made our own chalk paint and designing a playground for insects on The Art Studio’s patio. Working in two small groups, Kathryn and I helped the children to first brainstorm a list of ideas for their bug playgrounds.
With paper and drawing tools the kids mapped out what their playgrounds would look like.
A. was excited about a slide for his bug.
This group combined all of their ideas onto one large map, including a waterslide, tire swing and a trampoline.
A. mapped out a swing set and a slide with lots of sunshine.
Once their plans finalized, we showed the kids how to make their own chalk paint. Below are the supplies to make your own paint at home. We adapted our recipe from the Learning Play Imagine blog (we left out the baking soda from their recipe).
- Corn Starch
- Water
- Measuring cup
- Measuring spoon
- Cups for mixing
- Wide Paintbrushes
- Washable tempera paints
For each color you wish to make, mix equal parts corn starch and water (we used one cup of each) and mix well together in a cup with a spoon. Add one tablespoon washable tempera paint to the cup and mix until all the ingredients are combined. The mixing process is messy, so do this outside or in an area that is easy to clean, like over a sink, plastic table cloth, or tray.
Your paint is well mixed, now you are ready to paint!
We moved outside with our playground design blueprints and spread out working to fill the patio. The hot sun dried up paint quickly, making the colors even more vibrant.
Later that day we walked the Museum’s grounds to collect natural materials to add to the playgrounds. Before the walk I asked the kids, what kinds of natural materials could we collect for bugs to play with?
Back at The Studio, the kids arranged the twigs, flowers, leaves, apples, berries and acorns around the patio.
The rain over the weekend washed most of our bug playground away, but I’m glad we captured the fun process on camera. Thank you to two of The Art Studio’s Summer Interns, Beth Caronna and Camille Brenner, for researching the chalk paint recipe, which inspired this project, and Emma Rodrigue for helping me compile the photos for this post!
