Winter Open House...Saturday, December 14th!

Come visit us at Lillstreet's Winter Open House this Saturday from 12-4!

We will be decorating ornaments and cookies!

Lillstreet's building will be packed with activities tomorrow...check out the list here...

Lillstreet's Winter Open House Schedule

Family Ornament Workshop - November 23rd

For those families who attended the November 23rd Family Ornament Workshop...your ornaments are ready for pick up!

Paint & Stories...Snowmen at Night

Week One's Paint & Stories class read Snowmen at Night by Caralyn Buehner.

Here are some of their painting and collage projects:

What words come to mind seeing these?

We think: Beautiful.  Impressive.  Frameable.

Paint & Stories...Fall Session II Roundup

Paint & Stories is for children, ages 2-4.  Every week focuses on a book which inspires a painting project.  

These were the books covered during Fall Session II:

Ish by Peter H. Reynolds

Mouse Shapes by Ellen Stoll Walsh

Click, Clack, Boo! by Doreen Cronin

Sky Color by Peter H. Reynolds

Beautiful Oops by Barney Saltzberg



Paint & Stories took a Halloween party turn with Click, Clack, Boo!  The students used their hand prints to make spiders and threaded yarn across the piece to create a web.  For this type of project, googly eyes are essential.

Click, Clack, Boo! spider

After reading Sky Color, the students mixed their own sky colors with tempura paint.  Baking soda was then added to the paint.  Using droppers, the students dropped vinegar onto the the tempura/baking soda mixture. The chemical reaction caused new textures and surprising mixtures.

Project inspired by the book, Sky Color

The book for the final week of class was Beautiful Oops:

They're plastic!  We swear!  Beautiful Oops clean up

The children learned about Gyotaku, a style of Japanese printing utilizing fish.  Yes, fish.  An unexpected bonus of Paint & Stories are some unique conversation starters.  For example, here's "regular life."

"What did you do today?"

"Eh.  The usual."

"Oh."

But learning Gyotaku methods during a Paint & Stories class gives you this:

"So, what did you do today?"

"Painted with my kid using a fish instead of a brush."

"Wait...hoozie...whatsiz?  Did you just say you painted with a fish?"

Then...you get to tell the person all about it!  Brag about your child's project.  Perhaps, show some pictures on your phone (or tell them about Kidstreet's blog, which we would appreciate very much). 

Play...Spot the Fish!

The children painted fish with a fish and then added some elements for a collage. 

Paint & Stories is a regular class in Kidstreet's rotation, taught by Kimberly Pancoast.  The class starts up again next week with a winter theme.  How many different ways can she think of to create snow for her students' projects?  The pressure's on.  Good luck, Kimberly! 

Warm Winter Knits

A new Winter Class for Kidstreet is Warm Winter Knits, ages 10-14.  Taught by Emily Poole, the class starts with basic knitting instruction.  The end result is a wonderful scarf.  Its a perfect project to learn just in time for winter.

The benefits of teaching children to knit go beyond keeping his or her neck warm.  Here are some of the advantages of teaching a child to knit:

dexterity/hand-eye coordination
memory builder
math/counting skills
concentration/focus
relaxation due to the repetitive and rhythmic movements
learning how to move beyond and fix mistakes
knowledge and skills that can be built upon into concrete accomplishments...scarf...hat...mittens...sweaters!

Emily wrote a post about this class on the Lillstreet Textiles Blog...read it and see some of her other knitting projects...Warm Winter Knits Textiles Blog


Sign up here:
Warm Winter Knits


Articles on teaching kids to knit:
WBEZ article on knitting at the Waldorf School
University of Kentucky...Passing on Needlework Skills to Young People

How Did You Spend Your Weekend?

Kidstreet spent ours with two Family Workshops...Clay Ornaments and Holiday Mugs.  There couldn't be a better way to spend the weekend with both kids and parents creating with us.

Both workshops run one more time, December 7th (ornaments) and 8th (mugs).

The business of ornament building is a messy one

Mother and Son Owl Houses

Sign Up Here:
Kidstreet Family Workshops

The Early Winter Session Starts Next Week...December 2nd!

Our next round of classes starts next week.  Our Winter classes are also on our website, if you interested in January's offerings.

A project from Warm Winter Knits

http://lillstreet.com/department/kids-classes