How to Make a Fun Paint Slide for Youth Ministry

We have a student-run ministry team at Saddleback Church called Create Ministry. Twice a month, the ministry has an “Open Studio” event, where all the artists in our ministry are invited to work on their art and hang out with other artists. Sometimes the creative-types are hard to reach, so it is an awesome way for shy students or new students to get connected to our ministry.

I recently challenged Ashley (the student leader in charge of Create) to think outside the box and do something we’ve never done before. She came up with a really cool idea, inspired by a blog post she saw—it’s called a paint slide!

It’s exactly what the name implies—basically, a Slip-n-Slide that’s primed with many colors of paint instead of water. At the end of the slide is a big white sheet that has “You Are His Masterpiece” written on it in tape. The idea is that teenagers get a good run at the paint-filled tarp, sliding down to the end while covering various body parts with paint. Then they simply roll onto the white sheet and “paint” using their body as the paintbrush. Some finger-painted, some walked on it, and some rolled on it. After the paint dries, we take the tape off and the piece looks incredible! Then we found a place to hang it in our youth area.

One of the best parts about it this idea is that it’s totally FREE (for us at least)! We made the slide from tarps that a student had laying around in his garage, and the sheet we used for the “You Are His Masterpiece” project was an old sheet provided by one of our families. Kids who came to the event were asked to bring some cheap, washable, non-toxic paint so that it washes off and doesn’t kill the grass. You can find cheap paint like this at Walmart. Again: Make sure to use washable/non-toxic paint!

Looking for a way to network and share cool ideas like this with other youth pastors in your area? Check out the Youth Ministry Local Training nearest you this fall!

I had two big highlights from the event. First, I saw two of our lesser-known freshmen hanging out with our plugged-in seniors and building cool friendships! Second, one of the teenagers who often attends “Open Studio” night, but little else in our ministry, actually brought a friend to the event. We got to hang out with them and invite them to our weekend gatherings. It was so cool! You could even set up multiple slides with multiple color combinations to create more than one work of art. This is a great DIY project for your group!