Group Painting: An Exercise in Social Skills

It’s the beginning of a new week. The first week of real classes for me, seeing as last week was mostly introductions and icebreaker games. It’s is impossible for me to believe that in three short weeks I will be in an elementary school for my first practicum, teaching children in a real classroom.

Speaking of children in a classroom, today I would like to share an art project I did with my daycare kids over the summer. This group project was very easy, but reinforced lessons taught about cooperation, compromise, and respect for other peoples’ space. 

I got these canvases at Walmart, at $12 for a pack of three. I know I could have gotten the same canvases at the dollar store for less, but I was already at Walmart, and have I mentioned that I’m lazy? 

I brought the canvases and some painter’s tape to daycare, found a free table, and started working. The children watched me as I taped up the first canvas, making a random chunky design, then they told me where to place the tape on canvas two and three. 

Everyone painted about five blocks of canvas; some painted more, some painted less. I even painted a few blocks, but looking at the finished project, I couldn’t tell you which ones they were. Some children got very creative, making swirls of colours, rainbows, and even a bumblebee pattern. 

While most of the paint was still wet, I peeled off the painter’s tape. The children ooo-ed and aww-ed as each piece of tape was removed. 

For the remainder of the summer we used the paintings to decorate our classroom. They were spread out in the classroom, perched atop different shelves. 

At the end of the summer I took the paintings with me to The City, affixed hangers to the back, and hung them in my new home. They are hung above my… umm… school/craft/reading/cat food area. That’s complicated; I just call that spot “my bench”.