Amusement Park Body Painting

The last couple of summers have gone very smoothly because of how well the kids work and play together. They bounce ideas around and ultimately work together to make their ideas come alive. I typically give them a theme, or a few main toys to play with, and let the imaginations play away (examples: coffee shop, donut day, etc.). Originally on this summer day, I had only planned on body painting. I had set out our bin of painting supplies, two little pools (with wash cloths) to rinse off in, and large paper in the backyard.

We were to start our body painting fun at 10 a.m., after all kids had arrived for the day. Of course the kiddos were outside much earlier than that playing in the backyard. Before I knew it, all of the kids had worked together to create their own "amusement park" using the outdoor toys. They also came in and requested the "big blow up pool" to put at the end of the slide for a "water park." I happily obliged.

Wacky Land had lots of interesting "rides" and their favorite feature of the amusement park was the body painting area (no shock there).

 The food court

 This one didn't have an official name, but it was supposed to be "like a real life video game competition."

 The official name was The GliTch, but they forgot the T.

 Wacky Water Park was certainly wacky. In the afternoon the kids took all of the empty paint bottles, threw them in the pool to rinse out, and then swam in the leftover paint. From an adult's perspective, it was so gross, but from the kid's it was the greatest thing ever!

 In their minds, The Up Lifter lifter you up in the air as you drove faster and faster around the playhouse. In reality, it was more like bumper cars.

We did body painting a little differently this year. The last time we did Body Painting, I put the paint on trays. This year I opened the paint bin, told the kids to use up all of the paint (as I had already ordered a couple of boxes of new paints), and let them go. They fully accomplished this task!

 Some kids had more fun with it than others!

The kids put the little slide into the pool for the little kids. The pools were supposed to be for rinsing only but the amusement park creators had other ideas.

The aftermath. There's still huge globs of paint throughout the yard a week later.

And the Wacky Water Park at the end of the day. The kids took body painting to a whole new level by swimming in the paint.

The girls that get credit for the amusement park idea: Elizabeth and her bff Tenley, who created a "rollercoaster" the day before using the backyard toys. Like I said previously, they work well together and make their ideas come alive!