Winter Wonderland Party

Last week I led a birthday party of 3 to 6 year olds in a winter wonderland themed party. The request was for something that was Frozen like but not a Frozen theme. The challenge was to include something that would refer to the movie without being specific.

With that criteria in mind I came up with a Winter wonderland diorama that made use of tissue paper, painted paper, painting and snowflake cutting. I then led the party in making snowmen to place in their wonderland. If this theme comes around again I'll incorporate the puff paint to the project as well. Hind sight is so 20/20.

Jam Packed with Jellyfish

Sometimes When I'm scheduled to do a birthday party the guest of honour has very specific requests for the theme of the lesson I must plan; How to Train your Dragon, Lego Friends, Ponies... Other times I get specific but very open requests for a theme. themes that direct me a certain place but allow me a lot of freedom to decide the focus.

My latest birthday falls in to the latter. When asked about the theme she would like the birthday girl just said she wanted something under the sea but not sea stars. A few years ago I devoted a week long summer camp to under the sea themes art lessons so inspiration was not difficult to find. Sometimes to get an idea all I need to do is look in the supply room at Artspace.  Mixed Media Creation parties at Artspace rely heavily on recycled and re-purposed materials for the lessons. The supply room is a treasure chest of saved materials from empty yogurt cups and magazine pages to piles and piles of caps and bottle lids.

I decided to use egg cartons and clear plastic water bottle lids to make a jellyfish garden under the sea. the results were... well I'll just let you look for yourself.

Party Time

Every once in a while I'm asked to teach for a birthday party at Artspace. These can be huge affairs with ten plus children* excited to be together and rowdy and boisterous full of creative energy. They can also be a calm and gentle oasis (right up until the cake is consumed) full of creative energy. Did you see what I did there? Regardless of how many kids are at an art party that creative energy is there and it's brilliant to be a part of.
*or sometimes even less than ten kids; it's rare but it happens and this weekend was one of those small affairs

Artspace offers a few different options for visual art parties, Clay Creations, Painting and Drawing and Mixed Media Creations. Within those options we as instructors get to tailor create a lesson suited to the birthday honouree. Sometimes it's a specific theme; How to Train Your Dragon, Princesses, ponies... Other times the theme is wonderfully open and non specific; like the birthday I taught last weekend. When I met the VIP on a quick walk through and tour of Artspace a few days after booking her party I had the pleasure of being able to ask her myself what theme she wanted her party to be created around. Without hesitation I was told, "flowers" with a small caveat; there would be boys at the party so maybe they could create blue flowers for boys?'

I never shy away from knocking down gender specific bricks when the opportunity rears it's head. I was quick to exclaim that flowers are not just a girl thing or a boy thing and that I could come up with a project that would suit everyone. And with a little collaboration with the artist/administrator at Artspace I think we did.


 Whenever possible we like to use recycled materials for party projects, these made use of take out food containers (pizza boxes used for transporting sandwiches for my eldest child's hot lunch program) and egg cartons.

Every piece made by the party participants made use of the same materials. All of them look completely different and amazing.