Winter Blues

12/4/19-12/10/19

Four garbage bags of artificial flowers (plus another box or two) doesn’t sound like an unmanageable amount when a friendly installation artist whom you’ve never met calls on the phone and offers them to you (for free), saying she’s right around the corner and can drop them off within the hour. Actually, for a hoarder of art materials, it’s pretty exciting. My husband, who is the enemy of clutter and didn’t hear about it until the deed was done, disagreed.

They turned out to be the giant garbage bags, and the flowers are mostly blue. Fake flowers are the kind of thing that hangs around forever in the landfill (which is why that artist went to the trouble to pass them on rather than dump them). When materials like this land at PLAY, I feel like they come with a responsibility to squeeze as much fun and re-use out of them as possible before they become garbage.

I used some of the flowers to make reusable props for an “ice garden” installation for our final Messy Mixed Media class of the year, which I hope will be fun and bright, and bring a little odd, winter joy to the art room (especially for those of us who dislike winter–and I know it’s not even really winter yet). If I’m tallying fun-had-per-flower, my mom and I already had a lot of it sitting at the dining room table the day after Thanksgiving, making blue-flower-snow-pom-poms all afternoon.

I’ll also try to pass some of the flowers on to other people who will put them to good use–because there really are so many of them, and they’re making James very upset. (To see if I’m successful at finding some takers, follow us on Instagram.)

Complete info on activities for this week into next is below.
Thanks & hope to see you at PLAY–
Anne

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In Messy Art: Kind Of Blue

You might hear some jazz in the art room during Messy Art hours Friday 12/6 through Tues. 12/10, as we experiment with blue paint, blue materials, and blue subject matter–what things are blue? (All of your other favorite colors will be available, too.)

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“Every Kind Of Blues” in PLAY music

This Willie Aron song from blue session (sung by our friend, Norm Jones, on the PLAY track, and performed by Emilia & Keith in the video) is all about emotions, and it’s a great one for dancing and singing along. The lyrics will give you some ideas for actions to accompany the song. When singing a cappella, try making up your own verses by substituting your ideas at the end of each line. If your children are too young to offer their ideas, observe what they’re doing and use it to inspire a new verse: “There are blues that make you wiggle, and blues that make you giggle…”

Interested in Winter PLAY music, our mixed-age music and movement program? View the schedule and ENROLL HERE, or book a demo.

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Stories & Art: Frederick

“And Winter is last . . . with little cold feet.”

On Thursday 12/5, Jasmine will be reading Leo Lionni’s, Frederick, a story about a group of mice with a poet among them, who gathers a different kind of supplies to help the group through the scarcities of winter. Arrive by 10am to catch the reading. Toddlers to five; drop-in. Complete drop-in art info is here.

STORIES & ART SCHEDULE:
Every Thursday, 10-11:30
view UPCOMING HOLIDAY CLOSURES

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Messy Mixed Media is facilitated parent-and-child art for kids 2-5: View the schedule for Winter Messy Mixed Media (ENROLL ONLINE).

(To see how our projects shape up, follow us on Instagram.)

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