Does fabric paint come out of Clothes?!

Had the little guys again today, i love wednesdays, usually. These kids are always so excited to see me and to do some art. Turns out it can be a bit exhausting to deal with 11 little kids all by myself. I found this great activity combining Eric Carle and The Wild Things into a fun collage.

First, the idea of painting something to cut up and create something else seemed to soar right over their heads (there is an art to getting these kids to listen and I am so far from mastering it). Then there is the concept of pouring out paint as you need it and not dumping the entire tube right on your paper (ugh), this was a difficult one. Then, dear well-meaning teacher, there is a wonderful thing called Fabric paint, which you should never give to a bunch of students who are messy and don't listen when you say,
"WAIT, your elbow is painting a picture for your brush!"
Turns out fabric paint, like the label reads, is a great way to decorate fun shirts, jerseys, and your school uniform that your parents toiled over to get it looking presentable for school. Oops...my bad.

And then there are the difficult tasks of putting the artwork someplace out of the way to dry, cleaning up the room, brushes, children, etc. All of this while half the kids are running around the room screaming for, well, purely the joy of exercising the vocal chords (wait, I'm a theater teacher, I should like this right?!? Well I don't think I do). In the middle of all of this maddness their main teacher came in to get them and just stared at the lovely mess that was once a classroom full of students and one frazzled teacher. And as she smiles knowingly she says to me "Yeah, we've only painted once before....they tend to be a bit messy."
OH, really?! ha, you don't say, I never would have guessed. They seem so calm and put together normally. Thanks for the update, now you can have them back! *smile*

Needless to say when my high schoolers came in half a minute later I told them they could do anything they wanted today as long as it was art related....crap, way too open ended, "No Shawn, painting Jo, as creative as it sounds, is not in the books for today." (I had to physically remove the paint from his hands....it would have been funny for like a second until they realized they would have to clean up after).

I AM SO TIRED. and my high schoolers were a surprising breath of fresh air.

side note: I had a 2ed grade girl tell me I 'looked sexy today'....that's weird, right?!