In short, I am busy: We Explore Artist Eric Carle

Art Project Part 1: Painting

The kids start by painting. The idea is to cover their paper with paint, not necessarily draw specific items. Ideally it should be thinly applied. Once they've finished, they leave them to dry and sit down for storytime, if you are not doing it simultaneously. They can make multiple paintings and if you have a parent or aide available, they should go around and blot the paintings with paper towels to make them dry faster.

Supplies

• Paint (red, blue, green) in spill-proof cups
• White construction paper
• Paint brushes, paper towels, aprons Storytime
• I start with the Very Hungry Caterpillar puppet and book. After this interactive story, we read more Eric Carle books. Depending on the audience, I talk about animal sounds, counting, coloring techniques, imagination, texture, the pictures, etc.

Books

• Very Hungry Caterpillar (puppet program)
• The Very Busy Spider
• 1, 2, 3 To the zoo
• The artist who painted a blue horse
• Hello Red Fox (school age)

Art Project Part 2: Collage
The kids cut up their paintings to make collages. More paper towels may be needed to blot wet paintings and you may need to clean the scissors afterwards.

Supplies

• Cardstock or thin cardboard for the bases
• Scissors
• Glue or glue sticks
• Paper towels

Evaluation

• 2022
• OPtions - outreach storytimes. My aide presented four sessions.
• 6-14-19
• Attendance: 30
• Notes: I've taken the snack out of this program and moved it to our community room on Friday afternoons - I am hoping to have large groups join us during the summer. I have scheduled staff to help in case those groups show up and moving to the community room means needing to cover tables, bring over the sink, and put up signs directing people.
• I need to make sure I bring toys over to amuse the kids who aren't ready for storytime and possibly cover all the tables so we can just move to new ones when we finish the first part of the art.
• 9-12-18
• Attendance: 25
• Notes: Early Head Start joined us, so we had a bigger group than normal despite the parking lot. We used some previously cut small paper squares to paint on.
• 6-14-17
• Attendance: 40
• Notes: I had goldfish for snacks. Much larger group than anticipated! I always forget how popular this one is. I might need to replace my Very Hungry Caterpillar puppet soon.
• 6-15-16
• Attendance: 25
• Connections/Feedback: Most families happened to be there, but a couple came specifically b/c they like this program series.
• Notes: We had fruit loops for the snack. A handful of kids just came in for storytime.
• 10-21-14, 10-29-14
• Attendance: 3 classes of 1st graders (approx. 20 kids, 2 adults each)
• Connections/Feedback: This was as much about connecting with the teachers as the kids. I want to expand my reach with these programs and get more classes to sign up for them, so it was a good start.
• Notes: I really need an associate. I've been borrowing other staff and this was especially fraught on the 21st because it started at 9, so I had to come in an hour early, and then ended at 10, when toddler storytime started and I had to leave asap for a different outreach group. With older kids it goes faster - we had plenty of time at the end, which was good because on Tuesday I forgot the snack! With the second two classes I adjusted to spend more time on the painting at the beginning, had wet wipes, and didn't need nametags.
• 1-31-14:
• I revamped this to make it a series of programs, once a month. I used apples instead of grapes this time and also had some bananas.
• 5-10-13:
• Attendance: 20 people (14 kids)
• Notes: I have been getting very small groups for the non-performer We Explores, but this was a very nice size - 20 people, which means about 14 kids. I think this is a perfectly reasonable size for our population and for the type of program this is. Everyone LOVED it and I think this was my most successful non-performer We Explore yet.