A rainy day off school saw us painting on our graffiti art wall which we haven't worked on for a very long time. It's a really fun, exciting and creative art project to do with the kids!
I love our graffiti wall! One which I join in with them too.
We have a dedicated wall for this. It's on one wall in our hallway. I must say it's getting a little easier as the kids get older to work on it. It was a bit tricky in the past when they were younger trying to tell them, "no we don't paint or draw on any other walls... except this one!" A concept sometimes hard to grasp for little ones. (They're going to draw on the walls anyway, right!?)
I don't like to have rules during art time, but here are some of my guidelines ;)
- It's this wall & this wall only!
- You may paint over old work if you want to. That's the whole point of the graffiti wall! But respect the new work that someone else is doing.
- For the parents: breathe, it's only paint!! You can always paint over it one day.
- Wear old clothes and an art smock. It can get messy.
This might not work so great in a carpeted area. This is an "at your own risk project"! Luckily we have vinyl wood flooring, so any spilled paint can be soaked and scrubbed away.
Hints for working on a graffiti wall:
- Use coloured pencils to make initial drawings. If you use water soluble ones, any mistakes can be wiped off worth a damp rag.
- Use cost effective student grade acrylic paints. When the kids were younger I used washable poster paint like these ones, because the paint had a tendency to spread through the house...
- Set everything up you need before starting: paints, palettes (one each), brushes, washing up water and rags.
- Make your art larger! This is quite tricky for my youngest to grasp, she still makes some little tiny drawings on the wall, but that's ok. I just let her go and do her own creative thing :)
- You need more paint squeezed out onto your palette for working in a larger area.
- Try different sized brushes to see how it works. You may find you like a bigger brush than you thought you would. Again, student quality brushes are fine for this project.
- get involved and paint with your kids too.
Some ideas to try:
- Dripping paint
- Painting words
- Your fave animal
- Patterns & shapes: dots, spots, lines, flowers, stars, leaves
- Hand prints are super fun!
- Paint an image from a photo or book
- Paint yourself
It's also a chance to teach about some colour mixing.
When we started out painting this graffiti art wall, it was during the day when my husband was at work. What a nice surprise he got when we got home! (I reminded him that he did marry an artist!)
I hope you enjoyed checking out our graffiti art wall. A super fun kids art project that is never ending. Update and repaint when the urge strikes.
Are you brave enough!?
Jules :)
3 comments:
I used to do this with mine. Lovely post Jules, I think more people should let their kids do this!x
Thanks for the peep into your fam art time!
I want to dedicate a graffiti space on the wall for my daughter - about 7'(w)x9"(h). Is there any specific treatment required for the surface? It's a brick and plaster wall with a washable painted surface at the moment. She's 10 so can I risk giving her a spray can apart from regular brushes?!
Hey, I didn’t do any prep as the paint was water based and the acrylic paints we used just went straight over. We didn’t use spray cans, I’d be concerned about inhaling the fumes, plus I don’t think acrylic paints and spray paint would mix, as I’m pretty sure spray paint is solvent based, not water based.
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