Today we hosted a really fun art program – slinky painting. Teens used slinkys instead of paint brushes to make some very interesting pieces. They experimented with lots of different techniques to achieve a variety of aesthetics: rolling the slinky on its side, flinging the slinky on the canvas, dragging the slinky around the canvas. It was a blast! Since we hosted the program outside the front entrance, a lot of people gathered around to see what was going on (there were some adults who were very jealous to no longer be sixth graders). It was also a fairly inexpensive program. We already had the paint and canvases. I purchased mini-slinkys at Dollar Tree and was able to get 40 slinkys for around $20.
If you decide to host this program, remember that it is extremely messy. Definitely consider hosting it outdoors and let participants know in advance to dress for a mess. Our teens come to the library right after school and even though I provided aprons, some of their white uniform shirts got paint on them. Also, teenagers will try to fight each other with slinkys – so be ready for that.
Overall, it was an excellent program and we had around 22 attendees. We’ll definitely do this one again!
Slinky Painting Today we hosted a really fun art program - slinky painting. Teens used slinkys instead of paint brushes to make some very interesting pieces.
