Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Session III: Yoga, and Sculpture, and Treasure, Oh My!

This afternoon, I got to catch a glimpse of Summer Spree's much-loved Afternoon Yoga Special. Groups rotate to multiple specials all day long, but Yoga is always a favorite, especially since the kids get to spend some time in the cool ballroom.
Orange Group learns the Downward Facing Dog pose.

Orange Group working on their Frog Jumping technique hopping among the "lily pads" aka yoga mats.

Next stop, I found the Turquoise Group working on what appeared to be a construction project, putting together large scale sculptures. Seems their room might undergo a big transformation for their Art Show on Friday!
Turquoise Group members at work!

Soon, this will start to come together and look more and more like a 3D whale!

Turquoise Group members pausing to pose for the camera.


Finally, I stopped in to see the Red Group, where Lucy and Robbie were putting some final sandy touches onto their Treasure Maps. They used oil pastels on brown construction paper to make their maps and draw paths, and I came in while these two were adding colorful sand with glue sticks to key areas on their maps.

So much concentration on such little faces! Lucy has loads of treasure to find on her map!




Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Session III Begins!

Session III is off to a fun start with a lot of familiar faces and some new fast friends!

For my first stop, I popped in to see the Yellow group, about to get started on some big watercolors of under water scenes. They were very excited to be using such big pieces of paper, and were sprawled out all over the room ready to make some awesome art!
2 cuties cleaning their brushes before they get their paint

and they're off! lots of white space to make disappear!

Next, I went to see the Red Group, where they were finishing up some very cool projects. They were playing a little bit of Simon Says and waiting for everyone to be finished. I caught Levon putting some final touches on his tissue paper collage.

The Red Group always has some great sculpture art!

The Orange Group was having their snack break when I popped in to see them, but it wasn't hard to find a kid who wanted to show me her artwork! Sarah had just brought her group in from outside where they were using found objects to make prints. They painted things like bubble wands and cupcake tins before pressing them onto sheets of paper to make some very cool art! 
Natalie posing with her print. Great work!

The Purple Group was working on some paintings using a very cool watercolor technique. They were blowing the wet water colors to create new patterns, inspired by pictures of the coral reef. Once the kids were satisfied with the colors they used, they drew black outlines to highlight the images. Very cool stuff!
Purple Group hard at work!

Lucy outlining her coral reef.
Can't wait to see what other awesome artwork these Session III campers will create!!



Friday, July 19, 2013

Session II: Morning Art Shows!

Session II comes to a close today at Summer Spree! And the art shows these teachers and kids have put together are amazing! This is the most fun for me as the blogging intern because when the camera comes out, 9 times out of 10 there is a child who is more than thrilled to show me all of their favorite pieces on which they've been working so hard for the past 2 weeks.

Follow along with me in this post for some highlights in rainbow order (youngest to oldest) from today's Magic Mornings Art Shows!

Red Group!

Jenn's Red Group is always super fun to visit! These Pre-K kids have so much energy and were so excited to see their families coming through the door, I could barely get them to stand still long enough for a group shot in front of their tie-dye stage. 

Here they all are with some of their artwork in the foreground- clay octopuses, tie-dye, ceramic tiles, and more, these kids have been busy busy busy in Session II!
The Red Group they can pose for a picture but no promises all 10 will be able to find the camera at once!


Orange Group!

I popped into the Bridge Room to see Sarah's Orange group while their Art Show was in full swing! From life-sized self portraits to plaster cupcakes, rainsticks to printed fish, Sarah had these soon-to-be Kindergartners working with all sorts of materials to get their creative juices flowing this session.
Treasure boxes decorated with paint, googly eyes, sequins, and other glue-ables are just one of the many projects members of the Orange group got to take home this morning.

The Orange Art Show was the place to be! Look at all that amazing artwork! Cameo blog appearance by Sarah, Jane, and Bob Deane in the background!

Pinch-pot octopuses made in the ceramics studio with instructor Andrea, and plaster cupcakes in the back, yet another Sarah Original Idea!


Yellow Group!

I got to get specially introduced to some members of the yellow group, waiting for their parents to arrive, who were very excited about their artwork! Teachers Megan and Emily did a great job with their soon-to-be first graders this session!
This little sweetheart was jazzed to show off her jellyfish (hanging over her head) which she made in ceramics class.

Sophia wanted to get a picture with her whole wall of artwork. Great work, Sophia!

When I asked Jake where his favorite thing was, he ran over and grabbed this mosaic tile he made. Too cute!

Green Group!

Always an adventure, I found Pauline and her Green Group in the gallery having story time and waiting for their parents to arrive, before singing all the way back to their art show, parents in tow. They have been busy busy kids working from cultural inspirations from all over the world to make some awesome artwork!
Parents look on as their kids listen to one last Story Time from their teacher, Pauline...

...before singing their way out of the gallery...

...and back to their Art Show. Look at all that amazing art! From bird sanctuaries to Chinese scrolls to ceramic octopuses, so much creative energy!


Purple Group!

These almost-third-graders have been working hard this session with teacher Martha in their room on the third floor. Georgia, Dean, and Grace gladly showed me some of their favorite pieces they've been working on this session!
Georgia, representing the color of her group today with those purple shorts and flip-flops, poses with her artwork.

Always full of personality, Dean exclaimed "Can I get a picture with my snail?!" as soon as he saw my camera. Of course, Dean! Here ya go.

Grace, also in some awesome Purple shorts, stands with her wall of artwork. Good stuff, Grace!

Collectively, the purple group was very excited and prompted me to get a picture of the jellyfish they made with Andrea in their ceramics special. Don't these look amazing?!

Turquoise Group!

Last but not least, we've got our 4th, 5th, and 6th graders, led by teacher Pat, in the turquoise group right next door to the Purple Group on the third floor. Still setting up for their show when I arrived, they all lined up next to their "Turquoise Group" wall and posed for a picture.
Looking good, girls! 

Black Elmer's glue and watercolors make the colors on these paintings really pop!

More turquoise artwork with a reminder of our Summer Spree Theme this summer, Grow With the Flow! Hope to see some of these friendly faces again soon!



Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Session II: Awesome Afternoon

This afternoon, I went upstairs to check out what was happening with Martha's Purple Group on the third floor. Turns out, they've been super busy! They were all hard at work on their accordion books. Earlier this session, each camper designed their own character and made a stamp of him/her to use inside of their book. They are making collages with tissue paper and other materials, and have stamped their character numerous times to be cut out and incorporated into their book. You could almost feel the creativity flowing around the room as the kids were working.
(Above & Below) Purple group works on their accordion book collages. Can't wait to see how they turn out!

Next, I got to sit in on a couple of the Afternoon specials here at Summer Spree! We have another musical special this Session, led by the stylings of Jack and Emily. The duo teaches the kids songs and rhymes with messages about unity and oneness with the Earth. The kids learned the words "I am Earth, I am air, I am water, I am fire, I am everything and all is good, so I sing." The Red Group picked right up on these lyrics and learned hand motions to go along with the song.
Red Group learning the symbol for "water"...

and "fire." Get those hands up!
For my last stop of the afternoon, I went down to Andrea's Ceramics Studio and found Sarah's Orange Group working on a new project making ornaments with a sgraffito technique, meaning the color is applied before the clay has dried. Each child got a ball of clay, which they flattened out and then chose a base color to paint on the top of the flat disk. Then, they made designs in their piece by scraping out a drawing with a pointed wooden tool. 
Members of the Orange Group working on their sgraffito ornaments! along with Andrea (far left) and her visiting daughter Sophia (far right, opposite side of table).
Lucy and Hannah, of the Orange Group, hard at work on their ornaments. Look at that concentration!
Can't wait to see everything come together at the art shows on Friday!

Thursday, July 11, 2013

Session II: Green Group Gets Busy!

On day 1 of Session II, on my travels from room to room, I was psyched to see that Pauline, the energetic and extremely engaging pied-piper of a music teacher from Session I, is teaching her own group this session! Her Green Group was bopping along the path on the first day with sticks, leaves, pinecones, rocks, all sorts of found-nature objects, so I knew they were up to something awesome. 

This morning, Pauline's room was my first stop, and "awesome" was a pretty accurate assumption on my part. They have been working on all sorts of historically inspired projects that the kids are really excited about. First, they showed me what they had been doing with all those twigs and leaves a couple days ago. They made bird sanctuaries out of recycled wood, corks, and an assortment of natural materials they collected in the woods behind the Arts Center. The plan is to hang them outside and put bird-food (seed and peanut butter, the kids told me) in hopes that the bird sanctuaries serve a purpose.

Members of the Green Group show off their bird sanctuaries.
They've also been hard at work on some artwork inspired by ancient Asian art. They made their very own ancient Chinese Scrolls, inspired by an authentic one hanging in their classroom. The kids used ink to paint scenes in black and white, before mounting them on brown paper and adding red and green accents to their pieces.
Kayla poses with her Ancient Chinese scroll.
The final project I got to see from the Green Group today, although they have much more in the works, was inspired by a Japanese tradition of a children's festival during which, historically, to mark the beginning of summer, the young boys of the village make kites shaped like large fish and parade them around to celebrate the rainy season. This project could not be more fitting for Summer Spree right now, what with all the rain and high temperatures we've been seeing. The green group have hung their kites up in their room, made from construction paper and paint, with streamers attached to the bottom. How great are these? Keep up the great work, Green Group!
Members of the Green Group showing off their Japanese festival kites.


Monday, July 8, 2013

Session II Begins!

This morning, I saw some very enthusiastic campers from the Red Group, visited Andrea's Ceramics Studio and saw the Purple Group hard at work, then stopped by the Orange Group's Bridge Room.

I found the Red Group in their classroom, between specials, and made 2 new friends who both told me "It's my first day here!" before answering that yes, they definitely wanted to come back tomorrow! Jenn had set up a play-dough table complete with lots of tools for molding and crushing up the dough, and fast friends Henry and Izyan were psyched.

Henry discovering the mallet tool

"You put it in here and go like this..." Henry squeezes the saw's handle... "And it comes out like this!"

Izyan smiles for the camera in between attempts to get his playdough out of the blue tube. He did it eventually, with the help of the stick end of Henry's mallet-tool.
Next, I went over to the Ceramics Studio where Andrea was guiding the Purple Group through the process of making coral reef tiles. They had rolled out their clay and already added some types of coral features, and were making starfish, by the looks of it, when I came in.
seasoned Summer Spree-er James (standing) gives his clay some water to keep it moist enough to work with. 

Purple group rolling out coils to form more additions to their coral reef tiles.
Back upstairs, in the bridge room, the Orange Group was working with black sharpies and watercolors, first drawing a scene in the Sharpie, then adding color with water colors.
Sarah supervises the watercoloring down at one end of the table...meanwhile...

New friends Ava and Kazi (finished their paintings) have fun with some flubber left over from Sarah's group in Session I. Never a dull moment at the Arts Center!

Friday, July 5, 2013

Session 1: Afternoon Adv-endings

The end of the first session of Afternoon Adventures concluded with some outstanding art shows, but first parents got to come watch their kids perform the songs they had been singing with Pauline. Campers all made a circle in the ballroom and played percussion instruments along with the vocal stylings of Pauline and their peers.
Campers use shakers, tambourines, drums, and more to accompany their rendition of Bitty Bitty Bum

3 outgoing campers proudly sing the new verse of Bitty Bitty Bum that Summer Spree added to Pauline's travelling song

Singing another song about wheat growing to make bread with an old grandmother. Campers planted their seeds...

and they grew so tall!

My iPhone video did not come through as I had hoped, and the pictures almost come close to doing it justice, but the campers sounded great and had an awesome time with this musical special! Hope the parents enjoyed it as much as the kids seemed to!


Now for some Art Shows!

The Yellow and Orange groups worked very hard during their time in the afternoon! Jane, in her Grow With The Flow tie-dye shirt, was excited to show me her book full of art, the Yellow Group's special project for the session.

The cover, made of cardboard covered in fabric, buttons, glitter, etc...

they also did a needlepoint page, 

and a comic strip...with more blank pages to fill in when the inspiration hits.

the rest of the Yellow Group's books, and their fish which they made in ceramics.
 The Orange group was occupied when i went to see their artwork, but here it is on display, below.

Mosaic fish made by pushing glass beads into sand molded into a fish shape, then pouring plaster over top and letting sit overnight.

boats made of recycled wood pieces, paint, beads, shells, corks, foam pieces, and more!

ceramics projects, hand prints, and more! the Orange Group was very busy during Session 1!