Painting in the Great Outdoors

Do you ever have one of those, "What in the world was I thinking???!!!" moments? This afternoon was one of those moments for me! Because it was such a nice, warm day, I wanted my kiddos to be able to enjoy the great outdoors. Painting was to be our afternoon activity, so I had the *brilliant* thought that it would be fun to paint outside instead of just in the classroom. The kiddos were pretty thrilled about the whole idea. We brought out poster board instead of just regular paper because I thought the heaviness of the paper would defy whatever breezes decided to blow (ha!).

Now this just wasn't any old painting activity. It was "out of the box" painting. We weren't going to use just boring ole' paintbrushes. We were going to use combs, toothbrushes, hair things, sponges, toy cars, cups and whatever other random things I had inside the container.

I thought ahead and brought out a small container of soapy water so messy hands could be cleaned. Well, by the end of this painting experience, the water was black...or at least a really dark shade of purple!

Oh yes, it was messy. I kept reminding them to watch where they leaned on their paper because I didn't want paint-covered clothes. I was pretty impressed with how well they were doing, when suddenly the wind decided to be quite blustery. Of course, Juliana and I were standing in just the right location to be smacked with a flying poster board. Did you know that green and pink paint add such style to a jean skirt and brown shoes?! Well, it does! Thankfully the paint lived up to its name and was indeed washable! :-)

Ahhh, yes...you live and learn. Next time I will be sure to check the wind speed before I take out a project such as this! If there is indeed a next time....

But hey, it was a unique experience and it was fun (minus the clean-up at the end!).

{Their Abstract "Out-of-the-Box" Masterpieces}