Art After School

Last week we celebrated National Arts in Education Week and shared lots of great lesson plans with ways to incorporate art in the classroom. This week, we wanted to share a little bit of our opinion about art after school.

Parents have often asked me how they can help their kids unwind with art after school. So many kids have such stressful days in the classroom that they need to relax and transition into a different pace when they get home. Although it may be the remedy of choice, I don’t believe television is the answer – for kids or for parents. I prefer that kids pick up a piece of paper for drawing, some blocks for building or even better – some clay!

One parent shared with me her method for helping her daughter loosen up after a long day at school. She had oogly clay and her daughter knows the process of making an oogly and she lets her go for some quiet, creative time making ooglys. 

Not only it is a great activity for an eight-year-old, it’s also great for Mom because the play time is self-directed. Mom doesn’t need to intervene or instruct. Everyone can just find their space and tap their imagination for a change of pace.

Here’s one example of an after school “oogly” session. Looks like fun to me!