Not much is cuter than little heads bent over tables filled with endless opportunity for creativity. I love giving my kids the chance to make projects, but doing so requires a lot of planning, prepping and cleanup, which can get overwhelming and expensive. If you have a budding little artist, the Pre-K Open Studio is the perfect way to allow them the chance to make a little mess and experiment with different materials. The website calls it an “exploratory open-studio setting,” which describes it so well. It’s geared toward 3-5-year-olds (with a parent present), and it’s FREE!
The Pre-K Open Studio at the Springfield Art Museum (note: did you know that admission to the Springfield Art Museum is free??) gives kids access to some super-cute activities and, to be honest, I was pretty surprised at the amount of things the kids were able to be part of. There were two rooms, each filled with three activities: “mod podge” with tissue paper, painting with q-tips, bead-stringing, a “stained glass” project, bleeding tissue art, and paints. You can start wherever you want, and make your way around each room trying everything or just a couple of things. As you finish each project, there’s a table to lay it (and let it dry) until you’re ready to leave.
There were just enough kids when we went to make it fun, but not too crowded. The website gives you a button to register, but we didn’t realize that was an option, so we just showed up. There was no place to sign in, and no one asked if we had registered anyway. The event runs from 10:30 am – 12:00 noon, and you can stop in anytime. There is no formal lesson or schedule, and you can do whatever projects you want to during that time.
- Select Fridays in the fall, winter and spring (check the website for exact dates): http://mo-springfieldartmuseum.civicplus.com/163/Family-Learning
- 10:30 am – noon (stop in anytime!)
- Parking is around the building if you enter from the National Ave side.
- Dress to get messy or bring a smock (there are lots of tables filled with paints and markers)