Full Body Experience: Tempura Paints and Water

This past week I tried to come up with provocations that beat the heat. With days that reached upwards of 90 degrees, I wanted to make sure the preschoolers were keeping cool which meant lots of water play. Some days that simply meant filling a bucket and enlisting helpers to water the garden. The sprinkler also offers a myriad of water play activities. For example, E, and IR used sandbox toys to transport water to a large bucket of "dirt soup" in the backyard. However, one of my favorite water play activities developed from a tempura paint provocation. The preschoolers had mentioned an interest in tempura paints that day so I set up a large outdoor canvas in the shade with some red and pink paint, sponges and a few mixing buckets. G began by submerging the sponge in red paint and then setting it in the white paint. He squeezed the sponge, dipped it in each paint bucket and repeated the action until the sponge was a deep shade of pink. Soon some of the preschoolers began to mix the paint with their hands.

A few hand prints made it on to the canvas but the real fun began as they began to spread the pink paint on their arms and legs. This allowed us to, not only experience how the paint looked, but also how it felt. Some children used their hands to spread the paint on their skin while others employed the sponges. I offered, “I wonder how the paint feels on our skin. Is it cold or warm?”

"It's cold!"

Once the paint dried we explored how dry paint felt different than wet paint. “What happens to the paint when it dries?” I asked.

“It feels hard. I don't like it.”

This activity not only let us to play with color, it also allowed us to discover textures and the sensations of wet and dry. Mixing paint can be magical, especially when we can experience it in new, exciting ways: on our hands, our arms, legs, and even our faces!

Some preschoolers decided to play move on to the boats Briana had set up ,but first, we had to wash off all that paint. Amy filled a bucket with some water and this is when the water play aspect of our tempura paint activity commenced. The paint that had turned dry became wet again as we splashed water on our arms and hands. IR yelled“I'm going to get wet-bo-bet.”

“How does it feel different when it's wet?” I asked. G observed, “it's slippery!” and shook his hands in the air. The water turned a light shade of pink as each preschooler dipped their painted limbs in the water. IR began to dunk her head in the water, “I'm going to hold my breath.” S followed suit. IO stepped completely in the bucket up to her waist and dipped down to wash her paint off, “I'm going to sit down!” she laughed. Soon the preschoolers were paint free and staying cool. The familiar activity of Tempura paints took on a completely new facet when we fully engaged our bodies. I would like to build on this by setting up mirrors for paint or balloons filled with watercolor in order to find new ways to engage our bodies with art.