the superest duperest playground!

Inspired by the big draw event we went to last week drawing futuropolis I re-created it in our kitchen. Mati loves making and drawing playgrounds at the moment, creating exciting climbing frames, twisty slides and not forgetting the all important cafe. After spending the first part of the morning using building blocks to make a playground for her Play Mobil people in her room we moved downstairs to the kitchen. I taped two lengths of lining paper to the floor and we made another playground out of blocks to give us some ideas.

I found a selection of different geometric shaped objects to draw round , saucepan lids, baking trays etc to create our playground drawing. Drawing round objects is great to build confidence with drawing for children or adults, it allows you to create images by putting shapes together (see my fun in the kitchen post) It is also good for developing coordination and fine motor skills. Mati was really enthusiastic about suggesting different things we could draw round.

We built up our playground, both suggesting ideas for what to include. Mati suggested using pipe cleaners to make a twisty slide that we could draw round and she got very involved in this task.

Once we had the basic shapes we began to add our own drawings (water fountains) patterns and colour. We used felt tips for drawing round the objects and wax crayons and paint to add pattern and colour, Mati flicked paint to make rain obviously realistic about the British weather! She also remembered that at the De La Warr Pavilion people also made 3D objects out of paper to add to the map of futuropolis so we did the same thing.

The final (so far!) touch was some collage using tin foil and scraps of holographic card, Mati used these to create an icy cold river and an ice skating rink.

So then all that was needed was some children to play in the park.....

 

 

This really kept Mati entertained all day and I've left it taped to the floor so we may even continue to add to it tomorrow. It would be a good activity for friends or siblings of different ages to do together. Even the baby was able to join in by doing a bit of scribbling, as it was a collaborative effort no one minded her drawing over out drawings. It is a good exercise for learning to share and work together.

Other ideas for large scale collaborative drawings - drawing a town or a city you know, a city for the future, an machine/invention, a house/houses