Pass the Paint

The preschoolers were pretty quick to catch on to Pass the Paint today. They learned to stop painting when the music stopped, and which direction to pass their color in less than three repetitions. There was only one minor spill, and just a few instances of polymorphously-perverse tempera-wallowing.

We were painting our bug castles. These are small box castles just the right size for the Queen Bee, her ladybugs-in-waiting, dragonflies, knight crawlers, and roly-polies of the round table to inhabit. The castles have paper towel tube towers, french fry box balconies, and teeny-tiny jewel-encrusted thrones. Alas, sometimes this idyllic kingdom of the Queen Bee is attacked by the evil Spider Queen and her minions. Don't get me started on what a weird word "minions" is. I see this scenario where Condoleezza Rice's brain is swapped with a scallion's brain, and everybody wears collander hats connected to tubes, wires, and ancient hair-dryers. You remember that Yogi Bear episode with the scientist in the Airstream trailer, swapping Yogi's brain with a chicken's? Of course you do! It is a Jellystone classic.

There are lots of advantages to playing Pass the Paint. Everybody gets every color eventually. Everybody gets to paint along to the "William Tell Overture" and the "Return of the Valkyries" with great gusto. Everybody gets to ooh and aah over every color like Santa had just brought them a pony. Everybody gets to argue about which musical selection was in Jurassic Park, or Fantasia Two, or the hit kid movie of the day. Everybody gets to practice a routine, master it, and correct their neighbors (a four-year-old's favorite activity), but the game has no winners or losers.

Sometimes I ponder redecorating the condo in one long game of Pass the Paint. Could my little castle home glory in the creamy paint application of Thiebald and Diebenkorn? Could it have the metallic accents of Whistler's Peacock Room? Could I revel in squishy purple polka dots on glitter pink walls? I want gift wrap tube towers and a cardboard drawbridge! Ms. Nancy, Ms. Nancy, let down your hair!