First Art Class

Yesterday I visited an art class for two year olds at Gymboree in the Bellevue Mall, Washington.

Can you believe the class lasted an hour!?


My grandson, Haeden, will be two next month. I have shared his artistic experience finger painting, but this was his FIRST art class.

There were five children in Haeden's class. The first project was painting and he eagerly engaged. Look at the joy on his face!



Keeping an eye on what else is going on.....


Haeden started moving around the room painting with others. As he traveled with paint brush in hand, many of the adults moved away in defense of getting painted.


Next project was chalk on black paper. After a few scribbles, with hands full of chalk, Haeden started running laps around the room while the others were seriously creating chalk masterpieces. Haeden decided to find out what was in the cabinets. He helped himself to musical instruments and danced to the music that was playing.

Story time was next. The children were asked to sit on rugs to listen. Haeden, on the other hand, had to help turn pages and be up close and personal with the teacher. When she asked what sounds the animals made he was very animated. But the best part was when she asked what sound the pig makes. Well, my son has taught Haeden to snort. Of course, this made everyone laugh and Haeden continued to snort throughout the reading of the book.

More art! Tin foil, crayons, and paper were provided for each child. Haeden took off with the tin foil. Then, with crayons in each hand he ran laps around the room. He did stop when the teacher provided foam brayers and paint. This kept his attention for a little while. Last came the play dough. Haeden enjoyed squishing this through his fingers and was not satisfied with a small amount. He dumped the entire bucket and played.

Needless to say, I was exhausted keeping up with his enthusiasm and curiosity. He truly exhibits the joy of life.

I did recommend to Mom that he might enjoy the music class which would give him more physical self-expression. Haeden and I will continue to create art together.

Scribble Drawing

Taking an art class can be intimidating for some people, basically for adults who have not done much art in their lives. It seems that at some point in the growing up years either someone has made fun of one's art or the notion that I am not good enough has ended further pursuit of art. Yet, creating art sounds intriguing, so let's sign up for a class!

These are the folks I meet in class. BRAVE SOULS! Ready and willing to tap into their creativity. It is a treat to teach these people who show up.

My favorite first activity is to have them choose a color marker and close their eyes. I invite them to scribble all over their paper. Do you know there are many individual ways to scribble? I am amazed by each person's unique way to scribble! I ask them to stop scribbling and to look at their paper from all different angles to see what images they find. When they find something, I ask them to use the various colors of markers to bring the image or images out.

What fun they have! Scribbling is the very first stage of artistic development. Do you remember scribbling as a child? Or do you remember being told NOT to scribble? This art experiential that I use with my art classes seems to connect people with a sense of play. Maybe they get in touch with their inner child? But one thing I know for sure is that everyone enjoys it.