Allan A. Greenleaf had an amazing class of kinders who would be really excited for their art programming. Each week, every kid found ways to engage and go beyond the activity’s expectations. With the help of the amazing educators in the room, the room was always ready for artmaking and the group would be separated into two so it would be easier to manage. Every week the educators on site were very engaged and helpful into the activity which helped the students be involved as well.

The first week of programming with the texture passports was really engaging for them to go around and find different textures in their classroom. Understanding the space around them, many kids were able to find unique and interesting textures to stamp into their passports. They used a lot of the toys and random items that can be found around the room. One kid was really observant of the different bug fossil toys they had, and would try to stamp each one. They would be asking me how to capture the entire bug, so we would workshop ideas together to figure out how to create a fascinating bug stamp. Many of them were fascinated by the small toys and items around the class to use for their stamps. They enjoyed the process of finding items around the class to create art with.

The second week which focused on the smell maps was also really fun to see their reactions to their map. Looking at the full map, many of them would try to find their homes and point out certain spots they know around the school.

The third week which focused on seeing, the students were very excited to use their cardboard cameras. They would be really creative with what they drew through those cameras, one student found the pattern on the art table interesting so she recreated that pattern.

The last week was interesting to see how the students would create their imaginary space. Seeing many of the kids drawing flowers and wanting more flowers around their play area was great to witness. They were drawing a lot of rollercoasters, slides and more play items in their play area, when I asked a kid why she said ‘she wants to have more things to play on’.

Overall, the kids worked best when they were doing activities that reflected their space around them. They enjoyed having the freedom to do things at their own pace and feel in control of the space by being able to go find items and objects around them. By making some of the activities gamified, it helped them feel more motivated to complete the activity and be more engaged. The experience at Allan A Greenleaf was so fun as an educator as I was able to get to know the students, have a lot of time to prep and the educators were helping me every step of the way!