My daughter loooooves going to the park and we’re blessed to live in a place that’s teeming with them! So it didn’t take much convincing or prodding to get her excited about setting up this high-energy mark-making activity with me. The juxtaposition of art materials on playground equipment made for a rich, memorable experience, and prompted her to see things from our everyday experiences in a new light.
We gathered our materials — roll of paper ($5 at IKEA, I also spotted this Melissa & Doug Easel Paper Roll for $6.95), crayons, and masking tape — and moseyed over to the park for some Slide Drawing!
There were a couple of other kids at the park, and we waited for them to move toward the sandbox before I covered a slide in a long sheet of paper. N took her crayons to the top and tested them out…a crayon in each hand. I have to admit that I was nervous about monopolizing a slide, so I tried to work quickly and keep a low profile. It reminded me of a when I helped a street artist on a very fun, clandestine night, way back when, with a bucket, brush, wheat paste, and large stack of posters in hand.
The children in the park were curious about what we were up to, so we invited them to join us. It turned out they were more interested in chit-chatting and provoking us than drawing, but having an audience is also an experience. Yay for performance art!
My daughter could have done this all afternoon, but the other kids wanted to use the slide so we wrapped up shop and we’ll return again for more soon. Maybe tomorrow!
Would you try slide drawing?
This post is shared on It’s Playtime
I think this is screaming out for paint, trucks, and balls (with a bucket at the end to catch it all). There are always kids at our playgrounds dropping balls and trucks or cars down the slides. I wonder if we could find a less-crowded playground and give it a try… not so sure the other parents would be as relaxed as I am about painty balls flying down the slide!
It is SCREAMING for paint, trucks, and balls. And I look forward to reading all about this adventure on your blog, Amy 🙂 I’m not sure that our park friends will be amenable to that, but maybe I’ll change my mind!
I most certainly will! My roll of paper is already out for a project we worked on yesterday. Easy peasy!
excellent, jill!
AWESOME! Two things I absolutely love, art outside, art big!
Me too, Jamie! You definitely come to mind when i think about big, outdoor art too!
Hi!
Love this post very much. We also create a lot of things on the playground, but never on the slide! I can imagine that you worked fast…In my case people pass by and have some curious looks, (or maybe they think we are a bit strange) or they stop and tell me how great this is what we are doing. Unfortunately they never participated (yet), I am looking forward to that though!
Angelique! I’d love to hear more about the things you create on the playground. I’m looking for more ideas!
What a cleaver idea! My daughter would love this!!!
thanks, jessica 🙂
Oh what a fun idea! We have a slide in our back yard so this is definitely going on our list of activities to try. 🙂
oh, lucky you! have fun with this, and please let me know how it goes!
oooooooh so much fun!
Now all we need is a slide and a sunny day!
hmmm, rain would definitely be a problem and warm days can make for more fun and freedom outdoors.
I love this! We have 3 parks with slides within easy walking distance, so lots of opportunities. And with a weekend coming up, this is a perfect thing to do early in the morning. I’m just so glad I didn’t throw away a roll of perforated printer paper someone gave me ages ago.
oh, you have perforated printer paper!? what a find, yelena. this is the perfect use for that stuff 🙂
I’ve never done it with crayons; only cars dipped in paint! Looks like your kiddos had a great time with a great idea!
You’re amazing — of course YOU have done this Rachele 🙂 We’ll have to try this with painty cars and balls.
What a terrific idea! We have a wavy slide on our swingset in the backyard. I can’t wait to try this with my boys! And cars dipped in paint sounds wonderfully messy. This will be so much fun!
I’d love to hear how this goes with the wavy slide. Have fun!
!!!! this is brilliant!
Amy
thanks Amy!
Brilliant – will be trying this one out with my class in September & luckily we have 2 slides so can afford to monopolize one! Thanks for sharing
Super, Kierna. I love hearing about our projects inspiring curricula. I hope your kids get a lot out of this!
Love this idea! Can’t wait to try. But, before that I’ll have to arrange for such huge sheets of paper! I can also imagine balls dipped in paint rolling down the slide.. What fun!
Hi Rashmie, Check out my link for a paper source. Good luck!
Our playground in our community is pretty quiet and we’re usually the only ones there. My son would love something like this! I love the idea of balls rolling in paint too, but I’m not quite that brave yet!
How fun! We did Indoor car painting by sliding the cars on slide.
http://creativitymypassion.blogspot.com/2011/07/slide-painting-with-cars.html
[…] Slide Drawing (this could also fall under art, but it happens on a slide so I’m including it with games — in any case, it’s fun!) […]