Making Murals

Ever since our Norfolk murals post -- and since we got to see some of AlchemyNFK's amazing artists working at First Friday a few weeks ago -- Anouk and I have been really into murals and thinking we'd like to try to make one of our own. So we asked our playgroup if they would like to pitch in. Molly generously offered her house to get all paintified -- we taped craft paper to the wall -- then we poured water-soluble paint into trays and let the kids get to it. The results were kind of awesome.

I think one of my favorite things was seeing how the kids worked together to build on each others' handiwork. One would use markers to scatter dots across the paper, then the next would come through and draw a line of finger paint between them. It was truly a collaborative process. I especially like how little Z. saw the other kids making handprints and then decided to add a border of his own all along the top of the mural.

This project is perfect for a group because you can pool your craft supplies -- the more types of paints/markers/brushes/stamps/crayons you have, the more you can put the little ones' creativity to work.

I think it looks so so cool. I'm really proud of our guys and I think they had a lot of fun. Plus, the finished product makes an awesome photo backdrop.