Families gathered in Morton Park for the annual Kids Art in the Park day put on by the Coles County Art Council Saturday morning.

Kids were able to go to stations where they could paint a picture, make a wood sculpture or learn a dance.

Josh Stewart, 5, painted a picture with watercolor paint.

“I’m just mixing all of the colors and that one is a frog jumping on a log,” Stewart said while describing his picture.

Tesa Brown, 11, and Brynn Logsdon, 11, made benches and chairs at the wood sculpting station.

Logsdon said she likes art and building things out of different materials.

“I like being able to walk around and see my friends,” Brown said.

Nissa Larson, 16, has volunteered for the Kids Art in the Park day for three years with her mom Yvonne Larson.

Nissa said some kids come and build towers, and some come with more abstract ideas.

“We had a racecar track that didn’t totally look like one,” Nissa said.

Yvonne said her favorite part was the kids that come back for the art day every year and add pieces to their collections.

Yvonne said she is a member of the Coles County Art Council and has been volunteering for the scrap art station for about four years.

Yvonne said the scrap art table relies on donations from people who own woodworking shops and anyone who does wood-based projects.

Frank Monier, a sophomore theatre major, and Jason Tague, a senior theatre major, volunteered to help paint kids’ faces during the event.

Monier said he and Tague are part of the Alpha Psi Omega theatre fraternity and thought volunteering would be a great way to help out the community.

“My improvisational art skills got a lot better,” Monier said.

Debbie Hershberger-Kidwell, the visual arts chair and board member for CCAC, said the council has put on the art day for at least 20 years.

Hershberger-Kidwell said most of the stations have been repeated over the years, but the story-telling station was new.

“The reading circle was a fun thing to add this year,” Hershberger-Kidwell said. “We tried to keep it away from the drums, which they’ve been having fun making music.”

Hershberger-Kidwell said there was something for everyone who wanted to participate during the art day.

Hershberger-Kidwell said most of the materials used during the day were supplied by the CCAC, but some of the artists bring their own materials.

“We want to make sure kids have access to real art materials,” Hershberger-Kidwell said.

Mackenzie Freund can be reached at 581-2812 or at [email protected]