Art - Children are introduced to a wide variety of art experiences designed to help them gain mastery over the materials.  With repeated experiences using the tools of art, children become more and more able to creatively self-express by using art as a language to represent the world within and around them.  The art program includes the following elements:

• Drawing - Through visual aids and movement, children are introduced to the five basic elements of drawing.  As they study various aspects of the world around them, children are encouraged to find and observe these elements so that they can learn to represent what they see.  Children are offered experiences using wide and fine tip markers, oil pastels, colored pencils, chalk, and clay etching.  They are also offered experiences drawing in shaving cream, salt, finger paint, and wipe-off markers.

• Painting – Through puppetry, children are introduced to painting processes as they use a variety of brush sizes, textures and painting materials.  Children use liquid tempera paint, tempera cakes, liquid water color, glitter paint, luminescent paint, finger paint, and fabric paint.  They are encouraged to paint at the table, the easel, and outdoors, and to cooperatively paint scenery for dramatic play.

• Forming – Children work with porcelain clay, Model Magic, and Play dough, moving developmentally from exploration to expression and from simple to more complex forms.

• Collage – Children work with a wide variety of papers, while learning to incorporate tools and techniques such as hand-tearing, crimping, folding, cutting, pasting, stapling, taping, hole-punching and paper fastening.  In collage, children will also be using 3-D materials such as wood and wire, sticks, shells, dried flowers, etc.