Summer Camp Reunion and Spring Open House!

We are getting ready for Spring and Summer here at Kidstreet! The Spring and Summer class and camp schedules are online and we're very excited about all the new programming we have to offer.



In anticipation of camp, we are hosting a Summer Camp Reunion on March 3rd from 12-3pm with free summer-themed art projects and ice creams. Come in your camp t-shirt or summer themed outfit and enjoy an afternoon with your camp friends and teachers Melanie Brown and Kimberly Pancoast. Never been to camp? No problem! Come and find out what summer at Lillstreet is all about.

We are also hosting a Spring Open House on March 10th from 12-4pm with free workshops for all ages, artist demonstrations, and open studios. You can see the schedule of events here. Come both weekends and make some art with us!

Project of the Week: Exploring Texture with your Toddler



At Kidstreet, even those under the age of 2 have the opportunity to take a class. Today in Colored Textures, students explored soft felt, feathers, and pom poms along with soft shaving cream paint. We mixed and painted on a tray and a piece of felt-covered cardboard. We used our hands, brushes, pom poms, and cars to make our marks. Want to try it at home? Improvise with materials you already have. No felt? Use a piece of old t-shirt or towel to wrap around a piece of cardboard as a soft painting surface.



No cloth? Go shiny and paint on foil. No paint? Use whipped cream, yogurt, or a flour and water paste mixed with food coloring- these are great alternatives for shaving cream for children who are enthusiastic oral explorers. Plastic toy cars, cotton balls, and washable plastic figures are all great tools for making dots and tracks. A highchair tray makes a great place to work! You can also add a little school glue to the mix and your paint will retain some of its puffiness and hold collage elements such as re-purposed magazine clippings, gift wrap, tissue, and string.
Don't wait until you have the perfect materials for the perfect project, just get creative with your kids with what you have!


Lillstreet in the News:

A big thank you to Karen Jordan from ABC7 who filmed a wonderful piece on Lillstreet for "In Your Neighborhood". Roz Adam's "Build It Up" class is featured enthusiastically painting their imaginative wood constructions. You can watch it here.

Winter Break Camp.

Here is a look at some of the projects kids completed during their first week of winter break camp. Congratulations to a wonderful group of kids on their creative and enthusiastic approaches to these assignments.

Frida Kahlo's self portraits are loaded with images of symbolic objects. In this project, kids created a set of symbols to use in their own self portraits.

Campers were introduced to the work of Judith Scott. Mimicking her methods, students created armatures out of various materials. They completed their sculptures by diligently wrapping them with yarn, string, and strips of fabric.

After learning about Papunya Aboriginal art from the western desert region of Australia, students created their own "dot paintings" on limestone tiles.

We ended the week by making whimsical puppets.

Open House 2011

Saturday was filled with creative energy and lots of glitter in the kids studios here at Lillstreet. Check out some of the sophisticated works of art created by our young artist! The wide variety of projects that came out of a simple set of materials was absolutely inspirational. Left: Buttons, wood and string used to create a necklace that matches her coat.
Right: Pom poms and her own face turned creative time into a performance we were all able to enjoy.

This young lady made several versions of her little dolls using different materials. She made these out of buttons, wooden beads, and wire.

Left: Buildings under construction! The group used wood and glue to create their structures. Embellishments varied.
Right: Covering projects in a delicious layer of glitter. Bravo!

Congratulations Kris...

...and welcome to the kidstreet family little Lucia!

Oobleck and a Scanner.

The Kidstreet classroom was an experimental art and science studio this morning. A class of 18 - 30 month old artist created compositions with non-Newtonian fluids then used a scanner to record their transient art.



It’s pretty exciting to push a button and watch a print appear. Another tool has been added to their material palette!

Wild Things!

A day at the Lincoln Park Zoo with Sarah Kaiser and Angela Kovacs drawing Wild Things.

Digital + Handmade

Check out some of the amazing work created by students during the first two weeks of the Digital + Handmade camp. Another session has been added for the first week in August!

Students learned how to use various tools in Photoshop.

Students created 3D compositions then scanned them and altered them using Photoshop.



Students learned to use a digital camera and learned about color channels.



After creating a 2D work of art, students scanned them and added to their compositions using Photoshop.



A good time was had by all.