24/25

Impact

The following anecdotes and numbers are pulled from the Arts For All Creating an Environment: Site Evaluation Tool (CESET), a self reported form filled out by Artist Educators after every session. Educators fill in an attendance of children and educators after each session, as well as a description of their activity and impactful learning moments.

The Artists in Neighbourhoods program’s weekly access was 226 children and 46 educators in Fall 2024, and 357 children and 51 educators in Winter 2025.

Anecdotes

Art can be a sensory overload. Certain mediums are more captivating than others. The glue we used to stick our fabric pieces down served as a secondary and sometimes primary mode of interest. "Painting" glue on hands was a common sight among the children.
St. PatricksHWCCCC
I was curious to see what the children would think about using turmeric and cochineal insects. The bugs were a big hit, causing quite a stir once discovered (smelled and held) a few dramatic fall out of chair moments
St PatricksHWCCCC
We were exploring tissue paper today. One young boy was very involved in the activity. He played with the paper for around 10 minutes. The ECE said this was the longest he had ever engaged in an art project! We learned that a flat piece of paper can be made into different shapes and make different sounds.
Cathy WeverUmbrella Family
There we only 3 toddlers here today so we combined the classes for a dance party! I brought glow sticks and scarves for the children to dance with. The children have a large mirror in the preschool room. Upon seeing the reflections of the glow sticks, many became facinated by moving the glow sticks closer and further from the mirror to see what would happen.
Cathy WeverUmbrella Family
Today I brought in a large supply of art materials. When I brought in the art supplies, I asked the children for advice as to where things should go, and how to organize it. As I was putting out the supplies, kids would come over and grab what they needed and immediately started creating art without a prompt. By the time I had finished loading the cart up, all 12 children were creating a piece of art using different supplies. It was wonderful to see how engaged they were.
Cathy WeverUmbrella Family
The children described images they saw from a bird's eye view from the pour painting activity. It was interesting how they picked their view from the sky instead of the ground or describing what they intended to paint.
Dr DaveyWesley
The children were so engaged with the dramatic play aspect of fashion and fabric. They were excited about the sensation of running with capes. A child wanted me to help him be Dracula, and he asked me to tie two strands of fabric to the ends for his cape to have fangs. At the end, the children didn't want us to leave, and I had six kids giving me a big group hug so we couldn't go.
Queen VictoriaYMCA
Toddlers really enjoyed working with the markers- they liked the sensation of closing and opening the tool, attaching the markers together, and all the different sounds a marker can make. The children were ecstatic to make music as well. A child took a lot of joy in conducting our percussion by yelling "stop!" "go!" "stop!" and it was very sweet. They helped us clean up without us having to ask for it as well- very helpful.
Queen VictoriaYMCA
Today, we worked on making dot paintings. A lot of the children made Christmas trees. Some kids made flowers. One girl created a flower mandala. She said that making the dots over and over was "peaceful and relaxing." She was one of the children who worked the longest on her painting and asked if she could finish it at home. She really enjoyed painting!
Ottawa St. Child CareYWCA

24/25 - Total Numbers

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educators
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hours of arts access
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artist educators
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neighbourhoods
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Fall 2024 - Overall Numbers

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educators
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neighbourhoods
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Spring 2025 - Overall Numbers

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