Starting, Organizing, and Planning an Art Play Group

I have been a follower of The Artful Parent for quite a while. I have found this blog so inspiring that I decided to start an art play group. My friend Beth will be helping me. She is a former drama teacher, so she will be doing dramatic activities with the children and I will be doing open ended art activities.

The other day, as I was making plans for the group, I realized that it may be helpful to some of you if I post about our experiences. Even if you don't want to start an art play group, you may want to try some of our activities with your child or the children in your classroom. Each week I will post about activities we are planning, post pictures of things we have done and our children's art work, and anything else which may be of interest.

If any of you have experience or suggestions, I would love to hear from you. Leave me a comment.

Here is my first Art Play Group (Itty-Bitty Artists) post:

Starting, Organizing, and Planning an Art Play Group
If you decide to start your own Art Play Group, there are some things you will need to consider.
For example:

• Who will be in the art play group? What ages of children will be included?
• What will you do at each meeting? What will you serve for snacks? What supplies will we need?
• When will you meet?
• Where will you meet?
• Why are you starting this play group (what is your purpose/mission)?
• How will you pay for supplies? How will you decide on activities to do? How long will each meeting last?
  

Here is how I have answered each of these questions:

• Our art group will consist of children ages 2-4 who live in and around my neighborhood. Siblings are welcome, as well.
• Each meeting will consist of an art activity, a healthy snack time, and free play (inside or out).
• For snacks I would like to serve healthy, all natural snacks. I plan to send out this survey to the moms to see if they or their children have any food allergies/sensitivities.
• Next week I will post on what materials we will start out using.
  
• We will meet every other Wednesday.
  
• We will meet at my house with the option of meeting at other member's homes.
• I am starting this group as a social activity for my son and myself and to introduce my son and his playmates to different art mediums.
• I have lots of supplies with which to start. If we need to purchase anything, I will make the purchase and then each mom will refund me for their portion. The cost should never be more than 2 or 3 dollars per child.
  
• To help me select appropriate activities, I will be using these two books as guides:
• • First Art : Art Experiences for Toddlers and Twos
  • Preschool Art: It's the Process, Not the Product
    
  
  
• Each meeting will last 1.5-2 hours.

Come back next week and find out what I have planned for our first meeting!