Tie Dye Morning and Musical Afternoon

Your resident Summer Spree blogger was otherwise occupied this morning, stepping into the role of Tie Dye instructor to the Red and Orange Groups. Tie Dye is one of our favorite traditions at Summer Spree, so I was glad to jump in and introduce our littlest campers to this colorful way of customizing their own clothes!  (That also explains the brevity of this morning blog entry - sorry to the Green, Blue, and Turquoise groups!)

Little tie-dyers in action!

This old pro has been tie dying since she could walk! 

This afternoon, world traveller Emily returned to Summer Spree from Thailand and is teaching a Music special this session! I caught up with the orange group in the middle of a guided drawing during which they drew something to express the feeling they got from listening to certain songs.

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!

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!

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!

Session 1: Musical Afternoon

As I left the Yellow Group and walked toward my laptop to write this post, I heard lots of little signing voices coming from the ballroom. Investigating, I made my way in to find the Sarah's and their Orange group in the middle of Music and Songwriting, having a blast.

Pauline, our outstanding music teacher/story teller this session, engaged all of the kids in the cultural stories that went along with songs about pulling wheat from the group and making it into bread. They quickly picked up hand motions, clapping, and lyrics that accompanied a story about a grandmother and her grandchildren baking together. Another song they learned was written with the help of the Spanish language and Puerto Rican students from Philadelphia Schools Pauline has visited. The Orange Group learned the melody and positive message of peace while welcoming others into their metaphorical home and clapping along to these catchy melodies.

Boys of the Orange Group pull wheat to make bread.

The boys stand up to sing "Come and to my house and sit at my table, Come into my house I'll make you a feast." to the girls of their group. 

Pauline relayed messages of peace, love, and friendship with the different songs, adding different words, hand motions and finally instruments each time they sang the songs together. Young children have been known to get easily antsy, but in Pauline's music special, they are sad to leave the ballroom.