Artful Playdates

A Guide for Parents

Art has been an important part of my life as far back as I can remember. Art has helped shape who I am and how I view the world today. It is those early art experiences that I still cherish the most. As I watch my own children make art through playful interaction, I see the joy it brings them and it reminds me of my experiences as a young child. In my reserach through the University of Florida, I studied and investigated the importance of play in the growth of young children, and how children build their perceptions of the world around them. I wanted to observe and document what various social phenomena would occur in a group of 6 young children, ranging in ages three to six, while they made art together. Thompson and Bales (1991) state, “experience suggests that young children interact with little prompting as a natural consequence of their placement in social situations” (p.47). I also wanted to gain further understanding into how children viewed their art making in relationship to their social situations and vice versa. As a result of my research I have come up with a series of recommendations that will help anyone interested in starting up a playdate art group. Sometimes people shy away from these kinds of activities because they feel they lack supposed knowledge. If you are one of those people, don’t worry. You don’t need to know anything in particular. Your kids will know what to do. You just need to provide them with some materials and the opportunity to play around with them. They teach you what to do. The objective is to get together with like-minded individuals and have fun im-parting the importance of art and social bonding in your children’s lives. Use the following information as a guide. Tweek it any way you feel necessary. Good luck. You can do this; I’ve got confidence in you.

Nathan Vasarhely2

contents ___________________________

Reasons and Potential Benefits of Starting an Art Group 4 What Kind of Group to Start 6

How Often to Meet 8

When and Where to Meet 10

Ideal Group Size 12

Ideal Length for Art Activities 14 Types of Activities 15

Types of Materials Needed to Get Started 16

Things to Remember 18

References 19

Author Bio 20

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Artful Playdates: A Guide for Parents

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“Play is how children learn to socialize, to think, to solve problems, to mature and most importantly, to have fun. Play connects children with their imagination, their environment, their parents and family and the world”(Anderson-McNamee & Bailey, 2010, para.1).

•Playdate art groups are a great way to spend more time with your friends and/or make new ones. They provide

opportunities for your children to play with their peers while developing their social skills and problem solving skills. By allowing independence, the child builds confidence as they navigate through their environment.

•Art groups also give parents an opportunity to interact with their peers, which is sometimes much needed as well...

Reasons and Potential

Benefits of Starting an

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•Art groups help to connect people with the arts by giving value to it. They showcase the importance of art in our lives through the opportunity of experiencing it more frequently.

•By exploring the arts in a group, children are able to share what it is they see and imagine with their peers, as well as, gain

influence from the overall experience.

“The arts connect and engage people more deeply in ways of seeing, which often elicits social bonds and encourages community cohesion” (Milbrandt & Milbrandt, 2011, p. 11).

What Kind of Group to Start

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Now that you know that you want to start a play group, you now need to think about what type of

group you would actually like to start up.

•Will it be an art group only, an art and play group, or simply a play group?

•Will it be one in which both children and parents are involved?

•Or will it be one in which the children only participate in the art activities?

•Will the group consist of friends exclusively or will you try to make new friends by getting the message out to parents within the

community? - If you decide to go the second route, I would recommend looking into getting the message out through social networking sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, as well as other community publications and local meet-up groups.

•If you want a more structured approach maybe look into recreation centers, museums, or art stores that offer classes for groups of age-specific children.

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*Check locally to see if anything like this has already been established within your community.

Regardless what you decide, the important thing is that your children get the opportunity to constructively play with one another.

A young girl highly engaged in her painting. She is utilizing her fingers, beads, brushes, and a straw.

How Often to Meet_______________________________________________

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Next, you need to decide how often your art group will meet...

•Will your group meet weekly?

•Will your group meet every other week?

•Or will your group meet monthly?

I’ve found that meeting at least once a month works best, that way the children don’t get bored with the art activities as a result of over exposure. I’ve also found that it allows the child to build his or her anticipation for the next meeting.

I’ve found that coordinating weekly art groups can pose a problem for many reasons.

Committing to a weekly schedule might be difficult for some parents.

Frequent meetings means, more materials and this could become costly.

Children might not want to make art that often. Be aware, this may happen at the playdates as well.

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Whether you decide to meet each week, every other week,

or once a month, the IMPORTANT thing is that your children are getting the consistent opportunity to play and interact with their peers.

Do what works best for you and your group. Start out by meeting once a month to determine whether or not you would like the group to meet more often. Remember, your meeting schedule isn’t set in stone. Be flexible.

A young boy wearing an apron and painting on an easel.

When and Where to Meet

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I have found that early morning’s and early evening’s are the most effective times to coordinate an art group playdate. The early morning (About 10

or 11 am) is nice because the children are mellow and cooperative and the early evening (About 5 pm) is great because the kids can release all of their energy built up throughout the day. Try holding sessions at different times of the day to see what works best for your group, because all group dynamics vary.

*If you have evening play proup sessions, think about incorporating dinner into mix. Have a potluck. Each family brings food to share. Children really enjoy having a meal together as do adults. Who doesn’t like to break bread together?

Any space will do to hold your art activity. Remember, however, the space should be big enough to accomadate your group comfortably and it should be one in which you don’t mind getting messy.

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I’ve found that the home provides the perfect environment to hold these types of activities. It is infromal and usually provides a safety net for the young art explorers. If you decide to have your group meet in your home, then you must decide where in the home would be most suitable or designate a different location each time. The kitchen, dining room, or backyard are great places for kids to make art together. Some environments may pose a distraction. I’ve found this to be the case with art making outside, especially if the day is warm and there are toys around.

*Think about rotating homes where the art group is held.

*If you feel that the home just isn’t working for your group, try making art at a local City, Regional, State, or National park. Activities at such places might attract newcomers.

*You could also check into your local community recreation center, library, or museum, for availabilty of spaces for children art groups.

***Think about setting up a space for celebrating or displaying your child’s artwork as well. This will give them a sense of pride and purpose.

Ideal Group Size_________________________________________

The size of your group is really dependent upon you... I’ve found that 6 to 10 children works well, because of the size of the art space that most people have available.

If the group is too LARGE, monitoring the children may be-come difficult and the art space may begin to feel a little crammed. You want the children to be able to move around the area freely to create and interact with their peers as much as possible. On the other hand if the group is too small, then the children don’t really get the full advantage of the social interaction that a larger group provides.

You need to remember that these children will be accompanied by their parents, so their inclusion in the group is vital. They need to recognize and buy into the fact that they too are a part of it. This not only gives the children the opportunity to socialize, it gives the parents the opportunity to do so as well.

Parents don’t have to particpate in the day’s art activity, however if they do, their children will cherish the experience that much more... This will ultimately alter the social experience that occurs.

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Once you’ve decided on your ideal group size, you need to take into considersion what age range you want your child participants to be.

Children will interact and perceive their experience differently according to their age, level of development, and how comforatble they are in the environment they are presented with.

If you coordinate an art group with your existing friends you might not really have a choice in what ages the children are, but that’s fine too. I’ve found that age isn’t really a factor when the children have already developed a relationship prior to the art group experience.

•Find out what works best for you... •Start out small... •You can always expand... •Remember what it is you ultimately want to accomplish

with your group...

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Ideal Length for Art Activities:

I’ve found that 30 minutes works well for planning art activities. Most children under the age of six will not spend more than 30 minutes making art. If children pass the 30 minute mark, let them keep going. If they only spend 5 minutes making art, that is ok too.

Remember young children have short attention spans and all children react to situations differently.

You might want to begin each playdate by reading a story or playing a game with the children. Other options include taking a nature walk or even allowing the children to simply play another activity together

before diving into the day’s art activity. There is no right or wrong way to do this. I’ve found that introducing the children to some sort of activty prior to art making creates a stronger bond in the group and allows the children to become more comfortable with each other and with the presented environment.

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A boy constructing a character out of Play-Doh®.

Types of Activities______________________________________________

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The focus is the opportunity for play in which you are providing the children and the social interaction that occurs as a result of that opportunity.

I’ve found that activities that are more tactile in nature tend to be more successful. I’ve also found that activities requiring more movement tend to have more success also.

I’ve found that process-oriented art activities are the most successful within a group. By keeping the activities open-ended there is a lot more freedom to explore and experiment with materials. As a result, children learn on their own terms at their own pace. Allow the children to explore on their own uninterrupted as much as possible.

Process Art is an artistic movement as well as a creative sentiment where the end product of art and craft is not the principal focus.

Activities Include: Making and playing with playdough, tem-pera painting with found objects on paper or canvas, fingerpainting, drawing on cardboard, painting with watercolors, drawing outside with sidewalk chalk, and creating color and shape collages. Find out what works for you and add to the list.

Check out these RESOURECES for further ideas and inspiration: Scribble Art and Preschool Art by MaryAnn F. Kohl; Art Lab for Kids by Susan Schwake; and the Artful Kids Pinterest Board.

Types of Materials Needed to Get Started

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You will need some very basic materials to get started. Remember you can always add things to the

list later. Sometimes materials will need to be purchased, so a system needs to be set up amongst your group. You could treat it like a potluck and have different families bring different materials or you could have parents donate money for supplies. You could collect and reuse certain materials also. As a group you decide what direction you would like to go.

Art Supplies: Decide what it is you need for the first week’s project then go from there. For example, the first week you may decide to play with drawing materials, so you might need paper or cardboard, markers, colored pencils, crayons, and paint. ***Be sure to purchase kid friendly materials. ***Most if not all materials can be purchased at Target, Michael’s, Staples, or any other office supply store. Art stores are great resources too.

Check out these arts and crafts supply stores: Dick Blick, Michael’s, Target, Utrecht, and Amazon.com. *Look for the best deals.

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Children cooperatively playing at a designated art table.

You’ll need an art table, regardless where you decide to hold your art activity. Smaller tables work better for the little ones, but if that is not available any table will do. Give children the option of sitting or standing.

I would recommend that children wear clothes that they don’t mind getting dirty. Aprons and large tshirts always work nicely as well. Regardless of what you do though, some kids are going to get messy.

*It is a good idea to coordinate snacks for the children each session.

Things to Remember:____________________________________________________

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First and foremost, you don’t need to be an artist to start an art group...

The important thing is not the art but the social interaction that takes place. Art is simply a vehicle for that to occur.

Kids will be kids and we need to remember that...

Expect a mess; it’s art. Usually the bigger the mess; the bigger the success. Everything can be cleaned.

Do what works best for you... Experiment with all of the presented criteria and implement something your art group will enjoy and benefit from. Have fun!

References

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Anderson-McNamee, J. K., & Bailey, S. J. (2010). The importance of play in early childhood development. Retrieved from http://msuextension.org/publications/Home-HealthandFamily/Mt201003HR.pdf

Milbrandt, M., & Milbrandt, L. (2011). Creativity: What are we talking about? Art Education, 64(1), 8-13.

Thompson, C., & Bales, S. (1991). “Michael doesn’t like my di-nosaurs”: Conversations in a preschool art class. Studies in Art Education, 33(1), 43-55.

***The background for each spread is an ex-ample of child artwork created during my art group. Each work has been further embellished by myself. This excludes pages 1, 12-15, and 18-20. I created the background artwork for the front cover and pages 18 and 19, as a result of being inspired by my own children’s artistic play.

Author BioNathan Vasarhely is an artist, educator, observer, independent thinker, and life-long learner. As a kid he remembers always having this deep appreciation for art and the visual. That appreciation evolved from there. He grew up and still resides in Pinole, California, which is in the San Francisco Bay Area. He has a wife, Heidi, and two kids. His son, Hunter is six years old and his daughter, Madeleine, “Maddi,” is three.

As an artist, he is always willing to try new things and explore the possibilities. Nathan abides by Duchampian philosophy, “Art is what I declare it to be.” He believes that we are all capable of great things through practice, patience, and opportunity. He creates every chance he gets and he shares that passion with others: students, family, friends, and the community.

Nathan graduated from San Francisco State University in 2002, receiving his BA in Fine Arts with an emphasis in Printmaking. He furthered his education right after graduation by entering credential school. This is where he met and fell in love with his wife. Nathan received his Single Subject Teaching Credential in both Art and English with a BCLAD in 2004, from Chapman University. In 2012, he decided to pursue a graduate program and here he is today finishing up that goal through the University of Florida.

He began his teaching career in 2003, first as a substitute teacher and then as a full time faculty member at Ygnacio Valley High School in Concord, California. At YVHS, Nathan initially taught English and ELD. He transitioned into the Art Department several years back and has been experimenting with various approaches, ideas, and projects ever since.Nathan’s proudest achievement at YVHS has been the implementation of community service within one of the Academies that he participated in. This fall will mark the beginning of his twelfth year at YVHS.