Two years ago, our school reformatted our field day. I'm not sure if your school does a field day but, previously, the field day activity time took place during our students' specials class. Now, the kids do field day all day, rotating, by class, from one activity to another every 15 minutes. Most activities are outside. Our first year, I was placed in the sidewalk chalk activity and, ya'll, lemme tell you, it was THE LONGEST DAY OF MY LIFE. I was hot. The kids were hot. We ran outta sidewalk. We ran outta chalk. We ran outta patience. At the end of the day, I decided never again. The following year, rain was predicted but the show had to go on. I decided to do a different activity indoors. Last year, we painted Welcome Back banners to be hung at the start of the following school year. You can read all about it and watch a video here.
This year, I decided to change it up again...well, really just add more to it, by having multiple painting stations for my students. Here's the set up:
I created 3 painting stations and, just so there was no confusion, overcrowding or the normal mayhem that ensues on field day, I numbered the tables with the amount of kiddos who could create there. They had to pick a spot and stay there. No chairs. Just grab a brush and go. Here's a little video with more of a look-see:
The day was so much fun and it seriously flew by! We worked on three things: 4 Welcome Back banners for the new school year, 4 2'X3' giant canvases for the school library, 9"X12" canvas board alphabet and numbers 1-9 for the library also.
Last year, during field day, we made this sign...and our school librarian loved it so much, she promptly claimed it and requested a series of paintings for the library. It only took me a year to get around to doing it with the kids...but they are complete, thanks to field day fun!
We painted with tempera paints on the canvas. The canvases were purchased with funds from our school (not my art budget!). The morning crew of younger kids painted the flat colors while the older students painted the patterns.
Once the kids were done painting for the day, I went back over my black lines and added the white pops of paint.
The kids did paint on top of my black lines...which I wasn't worried about. I just touched them up.
I love how happy and whimsical they are. I cannot wait to see them in the library!
I also retouch the banners but those I do with a bingo dauber so it goes really fast.
These will get rolled up until August!
It's a great way to jazz up the otherwise boring walls when we return to school.
Out of everything we worked on tho, these letters and numbers might be my favorite. This was actually a lesson I did with my third and fourth graders...as well as a collaborative I'll be sharing this week! I simply give the kids two paint trays, one filled with warm colors and the other cold (tempera paint is what we used, Sax Versa Temp is my go-to!) and ask them to pick one color family for the number and the opposite for the background.
They painted as much as they could and then the next class just picked up where they left off. They were to use dots, dashes and dabs of color.
Aren't they the prettiest?! I need a set for my home too. What field day activities do you all do? I'd love to hear more!
