We Paint the Whole Playground Floor

Children become painters who must cover the entire playground floor with invisible brushes and rollers. It gets bodies moving and teaches them to spread out across the whole space instead of bunching up.

How to play

1. Each child dips an invisible paintbrush in a pretend paint can of any color; the teacher shows how to paint the floor by walking and dragging the brush (1 min).
2. With music on, everyone paints while walking around the playground; the teacher calls out "There's a spot nobody has painted!" and points to an empty area (2 min).
3. We paint the corners, the edges along the fence, and the middle, each one when the teacher names it (1 min).
4. Now we switch to a giant roller: arms stretched out and a faster pace, always looking for floor that's free (1 min).
5. We stop and look around: "Is there any spot left unpainted?" We all paint it together slowly on tiptoe (1 min).

Rules

• I paint where nobody else is painting.
• I don't step on someone else's brush: I find my own spot.
• Corners need paint too.
• When the music stops, I freeze like a paint can.

Variations

Adaptations

• Limited mobility: the child paints with a long brush (a pool noodle) from a wheelchair while a classmate guides them to empty spots.
• Autism: mark the four corners with cones so the child knows exactly where the edges are.
• Hearing loss: signal the freeze by holding up a card with a paint can drawn on it.

Learning goals

• Use all the available space without crowding.
• Recognize the corners, edges, and middle of the playground.
• Warm up the body with different ways of moving.

Equipment for a class of 25

• Music

Teacher tip

Little ones tend to all paint the same patch: point to the empty areas and walk there yourself so they follow. If the playground is huge, mark off a smaller area.

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