This weekend I had the opportunity to work with a group of
volunteers in painting a large map on the paved portion of the playground
behind the local elementary school. I
struggled to find helpful resources online for such an endeavor and so I’m
writing this to help communities that want to do a similar project.
Below you will find my ideal timeline for planning and
executing my project. I ran into a
little kink the day of my project because you have to prep your painting area
(which takes one person with a leaf blower). It also only takes a few people to
place the template and mark it with spray paint. If you don’t want to have eleven people
watching one person use the leaf blower, designate someone to do that ahead of
time, have a handful of people place and mark the template and then schedule the
rest of your painters to come.
Pro Tip: Schedule people
to come when you need them so fewer people are standing around with nothing to
do.
Sample schedule for
the morning of the painting project:
8:00 am: Two
people unload and organize supplies and leaf blow painting area
8:30 am: Two additional
people come help layout template and mark it with spray paint
9:00 am: Additional painters
arrive to paint the map.
Pro Tips for using a
map template:
- Take off your shoes
before walking on the template.
- Unroll one strip at a
time and tape it down as you go. The
slightest breeze will blow the template and possibly mangle it!
- Hold down the edges
with orange traffic cones
- Consider how you want
to place Hawaii and Alaska before you start marking with spray paint
- Use contrasting color
marking spray paint to mark the template onto the pavement (orange or a neon
color work best)
The next kink was that the pavement we were painting on is
not new. Even thought I had in my head
that we were painting on black top, it is not black…it’s light gray with white
flecks. So the white marking paint I’d
purchased didn’t show up. We were able
have a couple people from the neighborhood run to their garages and find a variety
of spray paint to try, and we found some that worked. But this delayed the project a bit.
Pro Tip: be hospitable.
Bring bottled water or coffee and donuts, if you run into a kink and
someone has to run to the hardware store you can keep your painting crew from
turning into an angry mob by offering baked goods. Thankfully our principal
covered the hospitality part of our project for us!
I split my workers into pairs and small groups. Each group was assigned a color. Several copies of a color map on clipboards
were distributed for people to refer to in order to decipher the template borders
that were more complex.
Pro Tip: Have one person who isn’t painting who can walk around
checking borders as painters are working.
It is sometimes hard to see mistakes when you are up close to the map
you are painting.
Having someone stand
back to see the big picture can help. Choose
someone who can kindly point out where adjustments need to be made.
We set up a drop cloth on a level place where people can pour paint into their trays. Drips and spills, while they are good to
avoid will inevitably happen no matter how careful people are. Keep some rags and paper towels handy. The problem with painting on pavement is that
it is usually not smooth. We had one
particularly bad spill by the Great Lakes.
We discussed making the lakes larger and greater or attempting to clean
it up…one super helpful dad was willing to run to his house to get a wire brush
to scrub the spot clean.
Pro Tip: Have a wire brush on hand. If someone spills, sop up the excess paint,
dilute with water and scrub with a wire brush.
It was great to have a variety of sizes of brushes and
rollers on hand. I would recommend
having people outline their state or area with a small brush and then fill in
with a large brush or small roller.
Rollers speed up the process of filling in shapes.
Pro Tip: ask volunteers to bring a foam pad that can be found
in the gardening section of the hardware store, or an old towel folded up, to
sit on or cushion their knees.
Be sure to take before, in progress and after photos to
document your project. It’s a great way
to share with the community the improvements you’ve made. Also, take time to thank your volunteers and
others who helped fund or otherwise made your project possible.
Here is my ideal
timeline for coordinating a project like this.
Six months ahead:
have the school contact appropriate people to approve the project.
Several months ahead: ask for funds
for the project, allow more time if fundraising will have to be done.
Eight
to six weeks ahead: set a date and raindate for the project and recruit volunteers.
And order a map template.
A week or two before the project:
collect materials and put in an order for paint.
A day or two ahead: hose off area to
be painted. Morning of painting project
(or the evening before) use a leaf blower to remove loose gravel, dust, dirt,
leaves etc from the area.
Set up template spray paint the perforations in the template with a contrasting
color.
Day of painting project: Have your
team assemble to paint. Plan on 3-5
hours to paint the map depending on how many volunteers you have.
FAQ
How much paint do I
need?
The directions that came with my map template recommended one gallon per
color to paint the USA map. The age and
quality of the pavement you are painting will matter. The paint store where I asked said 1 gallon
would cover 100 – 400 square feet…so not real helpful… we used a gallon of each
of the five colors (to have no two touching states be the same color) and a qt.
of blue for the great lakes.
What kind of paint
should I use?
The map template I used recommended using a water based acrylic paint. There are a variety of masonry and cement
paints available but don’t necessarily come in a variety of bright colors that
appeal to the students. There are some
traffic paints or striping paints available that come in basic colors (white,
yellow, red, blue) Call your local paint store and ask what they recommend.
How many volunteers
do I need?
I had scheduled two shifts of about a dozen people at each shift. If you have many more people than that it
gets tricky trying to fit everyone on the map at once while coordinating
placing paint etc. I would recommend no
more than 12 at one time.
How long will it take
to paint it?
It took a dozen people four hours to paint a USA map during our painting
project.
How long does the
paint take to dry?
Read the instructions on your paint can, but the paint typically dries
quickly if the weather is nice and if there is sunshine and a nice breeze. The paint takes longer to cure so avoid
walking on it and definitely driving on it for at least 24 hours.
How many coats does
it take?
It depends on the color and how thickly your painters are applying paint. We found that the red required two coats and
the yellow could also use a second coat.
Does the pavement
need to be primed?
We did not prime our pavement but added a second coat if necessary.
Do you need to prep
the surface before painting?
Yes, it is ideal to be able to
hose or pressure wash the surface a day or two ahead of time. If that is not possible at least use a leaf
blower to remove loose gravel, dust, dirt and leaves. Sweeping wasn’t recommended because it can
just drive dirt deeper onto crevices.
Should we add abbreviations,
labels, state capitals etc?
It’s up to you, but there are lots of activities kids can do with chalk or
props on your map mural. I’d recommend making
a platform for their imaginations leaving room for their own creativity.
What supplies do I
need?
Acrylic Enamel Paint
Paint Brushes of a variety of sizes
Small Rollers
Large Rollers
Wire Brush
Water
Rags
Paper towels
Wet Wipes
Garbage bag/can
Plastic Shopping Bags (wrap brushes and rollers when they are not in use to
keep them from drying out)
Paint Trays and Liners
Drop Cloth
Old Towel or Foam Knee Pads
Scraps of Cardboard (to put under paint cans)
Paint Can Openers
Paint Stir Sticks
Painter’s Tape
Masking Tape
Color copies of the map you are painting on clipboards so they don’t blow away
If you have any questions about my community’s project or
your own project please feel free to leave a comment below and I will do my
best to help you out! Good luck on your
project, your creative little hearts will surely enjoy playing and learning on
the colorful map you paint!
