Parenta June 2020 Magazine

Children’s Art Week
A-Z of ARTS AND CRAFTS
Let’s get creative!
Lots of us may still be in lockdown or
partial lockdown, but one thing we
can be sure of, is that our children
will still be as energetic and creative
as ever. This month sees the UK
celebrating Children’s Art Week –
an annual UK-wide programme
encouraging children, young people,
families and teachers to engage with,
and participate in the visual and
creative arts.
From 6th to the 14th June, everyone
is invited to let their imaginations run
wild, get creative and start making
something, and because there’s
never a right or wrong when you’re
making things for your own pleasure
and fun, this is a fantastic time to
allow children the freedom to express
themselves, create something wild
and try something new, whether it’s
weaving, woodwork or watercolours!
Some background to the
week
Children’s Art Week is run by Engage,
the National Association for Gallery
Education. In the past, Engage invite
schools, galleries, museums and
community groups to devise and
register visual arts events for children,
giving everyone an opportunity to
have hands-on, practical experience
with the arts and to meet and learn
from professional artists, crafters and
exhibitors across the country. In recent
years, more than 14,000 children,
adults and young people have taken
part, benefitting by gaining a broader
access to the arts. Event organisers
have reported that over 50% of
participants who attended their
activities were first-time visitors, with
30% being completely new audiences.
Anyone can register events – schools,
libraries, community halls, heritage
venues, country parks, libraries,
galleries and museums, as well as
individual artists and makers alike.
There are also lots of online resources
at Children’s Art Week in the themes
of:
• Looking
• Discussing
• Making
• Exhibiting
To help raise awareness and make it
clear that events are part of Children’s
Art Week, you can download and
use the Children’s Art Week logos
alongside details of any events you
organise on your websites, emails
and in print but Engage ask that,
where possible, you use the following
acknowledgement: ”Children’s Art
Week is run by Engage, the National
Association for Gallery Education, and
supported in 2019 by The Arts Society
and The D’Oyly Carte Charitable
Trust.”
Lots of celebrities also get behind
Children’s Art Week including CBBC’s
Art Ninja, Ricky Martin, Waterstones
UK Children’s Laureate, Lauren
Child, and well-known historian and
ambassador of all things culture, Loyd
Grossman.
How to celebrate during
lockdown or partial lockdown
With much of the UK still on
lockdown or partial lockdown, it’s
not necessarily the right time to visit
lots of galleries and museums in
person or to encourage lots of messy
touching of equipment by little hands.
However, that does not mean that you
cannot celebrate or get involved in the
week in some way as the following
suggestions will hopefully prove.
After all, thinking of creative ways to
get involved is already being creative,
right?!
LOOKING –
What can you see?
With so many museums and art
galleries currently closed, many have
turned to technologies to keep the
punters coming through their ‘virtual’
doors, and a lot of famous landmarks
and museums offer virtual tours.
Check out the ones at the Natural
History Museum and Buckingham
Palace.
During lockdown, many theatres and
arts venues are also releasing some
of their shows for free so that they
can be viewed online. There’s a list
of online theatre shows here and the
list changes daily so you can find
something new each day. There are
also links to a wide variety of arts
venues and museums on the “Culture
in quarantine” page of BBC Arts too.
DISCUSSING –
What do you think?
Finding out what your children (and
staff) think about art and discussing
their reactions to it is a key part of art
appreciation. You can write a post on
your website about the week/art in
general and invite people to comment
on their favourite and least-favourite
pieces of art. They could write it, sing
it or video their thoughts for an even
more creative response.
MAKING –
What can you make?
We’ve created a fun A-Z of arts and
crafts things you can try out or use
– or at least some of them. It’s not
an exhaustive list by any means, so
please feel free to add more. You
might need to do some research
about what some of these things,
are, but that’s half the fun! To make
it more personal, you could spell out
the children’s names and choose
something from each letter. Check out
CBBC Art for lots of crafting ideas for
pre-schoolers too.
A - Animation, acting,
architecture, art, appliqué
E – Enamelling,
embroidery, etching, eco
art, edible flowers
I – illustrating, ink drawing,
ice sculpting, ideas
M – Mime, mosaic, music,
macramé, metalwork,
muse, make-over
Q – Quilting
U – Upcycling, upholstery,
underground art
Y – Yarning, yoga,
yodelling, yolks, YouTube
EXHIBITING –
Show off your work!
Once you’ve made your art, you’ll
want to display it somewhere for
other to see. You could choose a
theme and run an art competition in
your setting. The children can send
you their artwork digitally if you are
not running or bring it in in person if
you are. Think of different categories
and age groups, and don’t forget
some fun prizes. You can then set up
a gallery either in the setting or online
on your social media channels to
show off their work. And remember,
we love art too, so send us some
pictures to marketing@parenta.com.
B – Ballet, basket-making,
beadwork, baking,
balloons, brushes
F – Folk dance, floristry,
felt-making, finger
puppets, feathers
J – jewellery making, jazz,
jar painting, juggling
N – needlework, napkinfolding,
national dance
R – Rayographs, recycled
art, rubbing, reflections,
radio drama
V – Video art, vamping,
vegetable prints, vlog
Z – Zithering, zincography,
zips, Zoom
C – cake decorating, circus
skills, collage, capoeira,
costumes, chalk, colouring
G – graffiti, garden design,
games design, googly
eyes, glue
K – Knitting, kite-making,
Kishie basket-making
O – Origami, oil painting,
opera, outdoor art
S – Soap-making, singing,
sugar craft, scrapbooking,
shadow puppets
W – Woodcarving,
watercolours, weaving,
writing
D – DJing, drama,
decoupage, drawing,
dancing, dress-up
H – Hip-hop, horticulture,
hand painting, hole punch
L – Lacemaking, line
drawing, literature,
leatherwork
P – Painting, papier
mâché, pottery, puppetry,
plays, perform
T – Tap dancing, theatre,
tracing, typographic
design, tissue paper
X - Xylopyrography
Get creative and have fun!
10 June 2020 | parenta.com
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