Session 5 Morning Mayhem!

None of us here at the Arts Center can believe that tomorrow is the last Spree day of the summer! It's been an amazing year. We've had more than 400 outstanding children come through our doors, and it's been exciting to see them making new friends and finding a new home on our grounds.

Keep scrolling down to see how much fun the kids in this session have been having this week! Susan and her helpers from Hedgerow have been working with the kids to put together what will be an outstanding show tomorrow (at 11:15!). The kids have been making costumes and singing the songs back in their rooms to prepare for tomorrow. Check it out!

Eliya (of the Orange Group) glazing her frog in the ceramics studio.

BFFs Lily and Kathryn in the children's ceramics studio.

Maysa carefully painting glaze on her froggie.

Just one of the Orange Group's many awesome projects this week.

Isabelle and Grace working on their costumes for tomorrow's show!

Can we guess what Roxy's going to be?

Another costume clue from Maya and the Yellow Group.

Madison (of the Green Group) doing some hands-on artwork. 

Zayna (also Green Group) posing with her work!

Dexter saw my camera and said "Alli, take a picture of me being a bush!" How could I say no?

I wonder what Kayla will be in tomorrow's show...

The Magenta Group working on some scenery for the show!

Samma (of the Magenta Group) working on her windsock.

The Turquoise Group is putting on a puppet show (which will hopefully be up on the blog tomorrow!) I wonder who's back there making shadow puppets.

Hint: it wasn't Carter. He was too busy hamming it up. 

Afternoon Shenanigans in Session 3!

This afternoon, I checked in on the Red and Purple Groups, who were working on some pretty great projects. The Purple Group carved amazing designs into linoleum tiles in order to make their own prints. I caught the tail end of this project, while the kids were rolling ink onto their carvings and stamping their creations onto paper. The red group was in ceramics with Dave Woods, pressing leaves into clay which will burn off in the kiln to leave imprints.

Old Summer Spree friends, Dean and Hallie (of the Purple Group), rolling ink onto their carved linoleum tiles.

Jane and Nicole showing off a couple of their prints.

Nathan and his awesome print (with a guest appearance by Ava the Photobomber).

Mira and Megan (of the Red Group) with their clay pressed with plants before cutting and firing.

The following are a few shots from earlier this week and late last week. The Orange Group made some pretty cool plaster bowls by wrapping wet strips of plaster around plastic bowl molds and letting them sit overnight. They then painted them to make decorative pieces (note: eating cereal or soup from these bowls or putting them in the dishwasher/microwave might not end well). The Red Group also made mini oceans in a bottle by pouring colored sand into little water bottles along with tiny seashells and treasures before pouring blue- or green-tinted water into them.

Sophia (of the Orange Group) working hard to decorate her bowl.

Minori and her intricately designed bowl.

Izyan examining the treasures inside his own personal mini-ocean.

The whole Red Motley Crew (minus two members) with their oceans.

Gail's Teen Sketching class is making a special appearance in today's post! This is a shot of them from last week doing some outdoor sketching in the back yard of the arts center. Teen classes run from 1-2:30 or 2:30-4 every day during Summer Spree.

Session 2 is Underway!

Things moved along smoothly in this second day of Session 2 here at Summer Spree! Our morning groups had tons of fun getting into their art projects and digging in the dirt. The Orange Group found a new way to make art with coffee filters and watercolor paints, while the Yellow group learned to make coil pots with Juanita. The Green Group dug and played make-believe in the children's garden with Bob & Drew. At the same time, the Blue, Purple, and Turquoise groups Dove into some really cool projects in their classrooms.

Sophie (of the Orange Group) using a pipet to create watercolor art on coffee filters. 

Sofia (also of the Orange Group) proudly displaying her water color masterpieces.

The Yellow Group absorbed by Juanita's coil-pot demonstration.

The Green Group checking out the roots of a tree in the Children's Garden.

Pearl (of the Blue Group) hard at work on her underground  flip book. Love your hat, Pearl!

More Blue Group members, Mia and Gianna.

The Purple Group working on underground watercolors and in their sketchbooks. 

Violet (of the Turquoise Group) pondering her next move on a project involving symmetry with black glue and watercolors.

The afternoon groups today had their first turns with Kim, our master Yogi from last session. Check out our Red Group (which just so happens to be all female this session) learning how to do the "Happy Baby" pose by first looking like a bunch of dead bugs!

Session 1, Week 2 Begins!

It's crunch time for our 5 groups in Session 1 this week! With Art Shows on Thursday afternoon, kids and teachers are starting to put finishing touches on their big projects! The ceramics projects are being glazed, display pieces are getting assembled, and new plants are being added to the garden.

The Blue Group assembling a sculpture on which to display the underground creatures they've been making.

Dean (of the Blue Group) decorating pieces of a snake which will hang from the apparatus above.

Amelia (of the Orange Group) using pipets to paint with watercolors.

The Red Group glazing their ceramic medallions and pinch pots.

Emily (of the Green Group) working hard in the garden.

The Turquoise group putting the finishing touches on some of their work from last week.

The Turquoise Group making 3 dimensional, wearable pipe cleaner creations.

Day 3 of Spree!

The humidity has kicked it up a notch today! And so has the fun! This morning, I checked in with Margery and Carolyn in the side yard, where they were getting ready to welcome the Red Group to their Gardening special. They learned about different types of soil, and even got to stick their toes in a big bucket of sand before squishing around in a puddle of mud! Pauline and Josh's morning groups (Blue and Green) were also digging into some cool projects; take a look at the pictures below for a glimpse of what they're working on!

Margery and the Red Group looking for treasures in a bowl of sand big enough for 16 little hands!

Muddy toes are a great way to learn about soil and get your feet and hands dirty at the same time! Check out that mud pie!

Liam and Alex (of the Blue Group) layering paper mache to make the final product as sturdy as possible.

Pauline's Blue Group making beautiful treasure pockets to collect goodies on their nature walks!

The afternoon groups were also moving right along delving into new stages of projects that will be on display next Thursday afternoon, at the Art Shows! The Turquoise Group was in the painting stage of preparation for their Pow Wow, which will be performed before their group's Art Show. The Red Group met David our Afternoon Ceramics teacher this session, and he led them through the construction of birds' nests, complete with birds and eggs to go inside them! Once the Red Group's time was up in the ceramics studio, the Orange Group came in and got to let their imaginations run wild and create a sculpture of whatever their hearts desired.

The Green Group singing along to the radio as they worked.

Declan doesn't need a chair to paint his masterpiece. 

Dave listening intently as Keegan describes a seagull he once saw at Chik-fil-A. 

Does Lucia approve of the size of the egg Ada made for her birds' nest?

Sophia B. creating her "Family Home" out of clay.