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.

Day 2 of Fun in Session 1

Day 2 of the summer saw our Spree teachers and aides getting right back into the swing of things. The aides were all smiles as they met the kids at their cars and took them safely to their teachers this morning. Once divided up into their groups, the kids dug right into their art supplies. (Many of which are generously donated to the CAC by members and art lovers throughout the area - Thanks Donors!) 

This morning, I stopped into Jen's Art Start room to check up on the youngest group of campers, where I found Maddy working on a little piece of make-believe made from repurposed soda bottles and tissue paper. As the Red Group transitioned into snack, I popped over into the Kid's Ceramics studio to find Juanita guiding the Orange Group through a new project: making snails out of clay. (Try to imagine the last time you concentrated on anything as fully as a 5-year-old molding a huge wad of clay into something he's proud of.) My final stop this morning was into the Turquoise Group's room where Pat was in the middle of instructing the oldest group of campers in a geometric art project using graph paper.

Maddy (of the Red Group) hard at work on her fairy house!

Bryce (of the Orange Group) deeply concentrating on his clay snail.

Sophia D., Sophia B, Mira, and Mia accessorizing their snails with clay-jewellery of their own creation.

Pat helping her 5th & 6th graders in the beginning of a new art project...

Can't wait to see the final products!

Today marked the first day of the summer that we have yoga in the afternoons with our favorite yogi, Kim! I popped into the ballroom just in time to see the Red Group playing yoga-Simon-Says and have some relaxing time in the air-conditioned ballroom. Down in the kitchen, the Red Group did some out-of-the-box art by making their own little pita-pizzas. Yum!

Kim leading the Red group through a game of Yogi-Says.

Sarah helping her Orange Group make mini pita-pizzas...

...which Finn, Liam, and Reese definitely enjoyed, by the looks of it!

Afternoon Adventures, Day 1

The fun  of Magic Mornings doesn't have to end at noon! Every day, we have our Lunch Bunch of kids who hang out with our wonderful aides from 12-1pm before Afternoon Adventures begins. When 1:00 rolls around, the kids go off into their groups and launch into three more fun and art-filled hours! Scroll down to check out some of the things the campers did this afternoon!

Dean of the Turquoise Group selecting materials for his habitat...

Here, Pauline assists Melissa and Declan (Turquoise Group) in building their habitats.

Jen can't decorate the Red Group's room all by herself, so Lucia, Mia, and Mira help out by making name tags for their cubbies!

Keegan's helping out too by painting a mini mural.

Josh's Outdoor Games special gives the kids a much needed chance to let out some energy in the side yard.

We also hold teen classes for children older than 5th or 6th grade in the afternoons at Summer Spree. This session, we are offering Digital Photography and Pottery Wheel classes at 1pm and Handbuilding, Drawing & Pastels, and Homemade Beauty Products classes at 2:30.

Some down time during Digital Photography, pretending to be a butterfly!

The Digital Photography class exploring the scenery around the parking lot.

Two of the teens in Carol Seymour's Wheel Class getting to know the pottery wheels.

Suzanne Brophy teaching her class of teens about the natural benefits of herbs from her garden.

Another Summer of Art Begins!

The first day of Summer Spree is finally here! It's been a long winter and all of us here at the Arts Center are thrilled to be back for another art-filled summer.

Magic Mornings kicked off to a great start! Our specials this session are Gardening with Margery and Ceramics with Juanita, as well as Tie Dye on Thursday (for the Red & Orange groups) and Friday (for the Green, Blue, and Turquoise groups).

Mia & Mira of the Orange group stretching their imaginations during snack time.

Dean, Gianna, and Emily hard at work in Ceramics, making Piggies with Personality.

The Blue group is listening to their teacher, Pauline, discuss her Piggy's personality.

Lucy and Liam of the Green group working in their sketchbooks.

Finn and Emma (Green group) pose with the paper mache they worked on this morning. Can't wait to see what these balloons will turn into by the end of the session! 

Session I, Day 2: Specials Around CAC

All the kids at Summer Spree love working on the fabulous art projects our teachers design for them, but the CAC also has special time set aside for things like outdoor obstacle courses and Lego Building.

This afternoon, Josh set up an obstacle course outside with colorful cones, a rope ladder, and mini hurdles for the kids to get some energy out weaving in and out of the cones, quick-stepping through the rope ladder, and jumping over the hurdles.

Above & Below: Pied-Piper Josh leads the Red Group through  the  rope ladder and over the hurdles of the course!

I found the Orange Group in the LEGO room beating the heat today with their teachers, Sarah and Sarah. These six- and seven-year-olds love getting out their architectural creative energy with the CAC's huge collection of LEGO's! This room gets tons of use every summer!

Seasoned Summer Spree Campers Finian (Above) and Dean (Below) were excited to show off their LEGO-skills for the camera. 

Session 1, Day 2: Afternoon Watercolors

This afternoon at the CAC sees the Yellow Group and the Teen Studio practicing their watercoloring skills!

Jenna and her yellow group are hard at work on their underwater books. They've made the outside covers from cardboard, fabric, buttons, and other materials, and will fill the pages with their artwork of undersea scenery. Today, I caught up with them while they sketched out scenes and began to fill them with watercolors.

The Yellow Group working with watercolors to make pages of their Ocean Books.

Jane (Yellow Group) getting inspired to sketch her coral reef page .

The teen studio group was hard at work upstairs this afternoon learning all about watercolors, getting some peaceful practice in the third floor studio. Today they got some good advice to "Leave well enough alone" rather than go overboard with additions to their artwork.

Teens get creative with their color gradients.

Can't wait to check out those books, Yellow Group, and these teens are sure to do some beautiful work!

Session I, Week 1: R.O.Y.'s Fun First Morning

The three youngest Summer Spree morning groups, Red, Orange, and Yellow, are off to a great start this morning! All three groups have jump-started art projects and special classes, and have been learning a lot already about our water systems.

Jenn's Red Group, the youngest of the kids at Summer Spree, were already very excited about art camp when I ran into them on the way back to their home base from the garden. They'd just come from digging out the beginnings of the trench along the edge of the garden, and were pumped to get into their cool room and take a group photo with Jenn and their helper, Marisa.

2013's first Red Group. Hard to get five 4-yr-olds smiling at once! (Sorry, Jenn!)

Members of the Red Group cooling off in the AC from the 90 degree heat with some creative necklace making. These big beads are perfect for their little hands!

A year older than the Red Group, I found the Orange Group, with teacher Sarah and assistant Sarah, working on some water colors in their classroom. Using masking tape to secure the paper to the table, the kids did not want to stop mixing and matching colors. The boys would only stop for a second to smile at the camera before, "Sarahhh! Can I have some more paperrr?"

Sarah's Orange Group getting their creativity flowing with some water colors.

The Yellow Group is planning a big project this week to turn a corner of their classroom into the 5 layers of the ocean. When I came in to see them, their teacher, Jenna, was reading them a book called Octopus Alone, about an Octopus travelling around his home near the coral reef. Jenna was getting the kids started thinking about the animals under water such as the Octopus' jellyfish and seahorse friends. After the story, they began to create their own coral reef scenes first in pencil then brought to life with watercolors on watercolor paper, a new material to the children in the yellow group.

Above & Below: Yellow Group outlines their coral reef artwork in pencil.

All three groups and teachers are off to an awesome and art-filled first morning! Keep checking the Summer Spree Blog for updates on the Red, Orange, Yellow, and older groups as the sessions go on!