One of the best things about having this business is getting to hang with a bunch of really cool and creative folks who love having fun with kids just as much as we do. This month is chock ‘o block full of great events that we are fortunate to be a part of. For the first 3 weekends in February we’re hangin’ with JUNO NOMINATED Monkey Bunch. I’ll be manning a craft table where the kids will be fooling around with stamps and stamp pads and Ryan will be doing what he does best – entertaining the kidlets before the Monkey Bunch’s BIG performance!

Then, on the last Sunday of the month, we’ll be at Totsapalooza for Small Print’s fourth annual fabulous event – themed this year “Mouse City Calling”. If there’s one thing I’ll never stop loving – it’s a good party – and this month is full of ‘em!

Saturday Feb. 4th, Multi-Medium Art Workshop: 10:15 a.m. ‘til 11:45 a.m. – Perspective and Pastel. About a year ago, I found a great book at the library called “Big Fat Hen” by Keith Baker. The illustrations are vibrantly drawn with pastels. After doing some research, I discovered that this story has been used by many art teachers – it’s a popular book! So to add some differentiation, I decided to include a bit of theory in my lesson. We’ll talk about perspective – things up close are big; things far away are small, and we’ll also talk about the ‘horizon line’. The children will get to experiment with both oil and chalk pastels (word of warning: the chalk pastels get EVERYwhere, so let’s remember to wear our ‘art’ clothes). The above drawing was done by my son, Julian when he was 6 yrs old. I think it’s gorgeous!

*Please note: Weekend Drop-in/Drop-offs alternate between Saturday and Sunday mornings.

Multi-Medium Art Workshop (4 yrs +) 10:15 a.m. – 11:45 a.m.

See you there! We would greatly appreciate it if you could call or email us if you intend to come to one of our drop-ins. It helps with prep when we have an idea of the number of kids participating. Thanks!

Sunday Jan. 29th, Multi-Medium Art Workshop: 10:15 a.m. ‘til 11:45 a.m. – Dragon Art! I have a student absolutely fascinated by all things Chinese. Chinatown, Chinese history, Chinese Art etc. etc… So this one’s for you Malcolm! We’ll be sketching and painting dragons as well as adding in a bit of collage in celebration of Chinese New Year. We’ll also be reading ‘Bringing In The New Year’ and ‘Fortune Cookie Fortunes’ by Grace Lin. It’ll be a great class and I can’t wait to see the marvelous red, gold AND BLUE creations (it is a water dragon this year after all!)

*Please note: Weekend Drop-in/Drop-offs alternate between Saturday and Sunday mornings.

Multi-Medium Art Workshop (4 yrs +) 10:15 a.m. – 11:45 a.m.

See you there! We would greatly appreciate it if you could call or email us if you intend to come to one of our drop-ins. It helps with prep when we have an idea of the number of kids participating. Thanks!

A great compliment to the class is the story ‘The Dot’ By Peter H. Reynolds. It’s the perfect book to inspire a discussion about dots and circles and the art of creating mandalas. We’ll watercolour paint our circles first, and then later doodle with pen and ink to add detail to the mandala. Looking forward to another fantastic mandala making workshop!

*Please note: Weekend Drop-in/Drop-offs alternate between Saturday and Sunday mornings.

Multi-Medium Art Workshop (4 yrs +) 10:15 a.m. – 11:45 a.m.

See you there! We would greatly appreciate it if you could call or email us if you intend to come to one of our drop-ins. It helps with prep when we have an idea of the number of kids participating. Thanks!

We had a BLAST last week for our Winter Holiday Arts Camp. We covered themes like ‘Backwards Day’, ‘Spies & Mysteries’ & ‘Magic Carpet Around the World’. One highlight for me was special guest & kids yoga teacher Janet Williams, of Childrens Yoga Books showcasing her new ‘Yoga Match’ game. She even made a video of the kids enjoying the game. Thank you to all our little campers who joined us. We sure had fun doing yoga, creating art, and just being plain goofy during drama games. Looking forward to the next one!

Sunday Jan. 15th, Multi-Medium Art Workshop: 10:15 a.m. ‘til 11:45 a.m. – Paint and Tissue Paper Collage: Have you ever built a snowman and discovered the next day that his grin has gotten a little crooked, or his tree-branch arms have moved? And have you ever wondered, “What do snowmen do at night?” Although our winter thus far has been unseasonably mild – no snow yet (?!) – we thought it’d be nice to do an art project based around the story ‘Snowmen At Night’ by wife/husband team Caralyn and Mark Buehner. I’ve recently become a big fan of artist Mark Buehner’s captivating work whose extraordinary illustrations grace the pages of ‘Snowmen At Night’. Thank you to Deep Space Sparkle for the inspiration for this great art workshop!

*Please note: Weekend Drop-in/Drop-offs alternate between Saturday and Sunday mornings.

Multi-Medium Art Workshop (4 yrs +) 10:15 a.m. – 11:45 a.m.

See you there! We would greatly appreciate it if you could call or email us if you intend to come to one of our drop-ins. It helps with prep when we have an idea of the number of kids participating. Thanks!

Happy Holidays from Julian, Lisa and Ryan. Thank you for all of the love and support you gave us in our second year of business! May your holidays be filled with peace, love and blessings. Looking forward to sharing many new and fun experiences with you in 2012!

Our weekend drop-in classes are now closed for the season. But we look forward to seeing your smiling faces for more creative fun in early January!

In the meantime – we are doing a holiday camp as of January 2nd for 5 half days. See you soon!

Photo credit: Giordano Ciampini

Saturday Dec. 17th, Multi-Medium Art Workshop: 10:15 a.m. ‘til 11:45 a.m. – Decoupage Gift Bags: Using recycled magazines and old xmas gift wrap, we’ll apply the art of decoupage on cereal or cracker boxes to create some re-usable gift bags. We’ll also glue on ribbons, tinsel, decorations, buttons or beads to dress up the bag. ‘Tis the season!

*Please note: Weekend Drop-in/Drop-offs now alternate between Saturdays and Sundays.

Multi-Medium Art Workshop (4 yrs +) 10:15 a.m. – 11:45 a.m.

Drama Games Workshop (4 yrs +) Cancelled due to teacher unavailability.

See you there! We would greatly appreciate it if you could call or email us if you intend to come to one of our drop-ins. It helps with prep when we have an idea of the number of kids participating. Thanks!

Sunday Dec. 11th, Multi-Medium Art Workshop: 10:15 a.m. ‘til 11:45 a.m. – An Exploration of Gustav Klimt: In this class, the children will appreciate the wonderful works of Klimt. We feel that his art’s richness combines perfectly with the decorations of the holiday season — so glitter, metallic paints and pastels will be the mediums for this workshop.

And not to be left out — we’ve got a Drama Games/Music Theatre Workshop at 12:30 p.m. See details for the class by clicking the link below.

*Please note: Weekend Drop-in/Drop-offs now alternate between Saturdays and Sundays.

Multi-Medium Art Workshop (4 yrs +) 10:15 a.m. – 11:45 a.m.

Drama Games Workshop (4 yrs +) 12:30 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.

See you there! We would greatly appreciate it if you could call or email us if you intend to come to one of our drop-ins. It helps with prep when we have an idea of the number of kids participating. Thanks!