In Wonder Art Workshop, educator and educational development expert Sally Haughey shares her approach to hands-on, play-based learning with parents, teachers, and other facilitators, offering 25 activities that let your child take the lead in developing their own sense of intrinsic motivation to imagine, experiment, and discover. The author's wonder-based approach reflects and synthesizes several child-centered educational movements, including Reggio Emilia, Waldorf, and Montessori. Become a catalyst for cultivating your child’s curious mind through these steps and activities, which start with art and apply to other subjects, including science and literacy: Take stock for your wonder journey with helpful guidance on collecting materials, preparing a space, and nurturing the process while allowing children to make independent choices. Harness curiosity through a collection of sensory-based activities that use a variety of loose parts and other creative materials for open-ended play. Encourage experimentation by unleashing your child’s inner alchemist with “potion trays” they can use to mix color, create fizzing concoctions, make play dough, and more. Unlock literacy play with activities that inspire children to imagine and create their own characters, structures, and landscapes. Give your children the precious gifts of wonder and curiosity and help them become the best they can be with Wonder Art Workshop.

Art Workshop for Children is not just another book of straightforward art projects. The book's unique child-led approach provides a framework for cultivating creative thinking and encourages the wonder that comes when children are allowed to freely explore the creative process and their materials. As children work through these open-ended workshops, adults are guided on how to be facilitators who provide questions, encourage deep thinking, and help spark an excitement for discovery. Children explore basic materials and workshops that use minimal supplies, and then gradually add new materials to fill the art cabinets as well as new skills and more complex workshops. Most workshops are suitable to preschool-aged children, and each contains ideas for explorations and new twists to engage older or more experienced artists. Interspersed throughout are sidebar essays that introduce perspectives on mess-making, imperfection, the role of adult, collaborative art, and thoughts on the Reggio Emilia method, a self-guided teaching philosophy. These pieces underscore the value of art-making with children, and support the parent/teacher/care-giver on how to successfully lead, question, and navigate their children through the workshops to result in the fullest experiences.

Beloved children's entertainer Emily Arrow's first picture book, perfect for (little) makers everywhere: a story about finding a space to create! A young bunny makes the rounds of a studio building, taking in all the different artists in their habitats. Making, thinking, sharing, performing . . . but can our bunny find the perfect space to let imagination shine? In this charming ode to creativity, noted children's singer and entertainer Emily Arrow introduces readers to the concept of the studio: a place for painters, dancers, singers, actors, sculptors, printmakers . . . and you! Whether it's a purpose-made space with big windows, a room filled with equipment, or the corner of a bedroom, your studio can be anywhere--you just have to find it!

A wonderful full-color introduction to help parents show their little boys and girls how fun much art class will be. It's perfect to get any child ready for their first days in the classroom. Take your child on a grand adventure--to school where they will take art class. They will learn about shapes, learn to paint, learn to model using clay, and learning about friendship. They can follow Luna and Lucas as they find out how much fun art class, and school, really are! Created by a teacher, this book will give every the confidence he or she needs for their first days at school. There is even a game. Can you find the book, school bag, banana, and pencil in the story? Also available: School Is Cool First Days, School Is Cool In the Forest, and School Is Cool On the Farm.

Discover Creativity with 2–5 Year Olds explores young children’s creative development and shares important insight as to why and how practitioners can encourage their natural curiosity. It will help early years practitioners and professionals to rediscover the joy of working creatively with young children and how to support them in developing their ideas, thoughts and feelings through creative expression and opportunities. The book provides an in-depth account of what creativity is and how best to support children in their creative endeavours. Covering the prime areas of the early years foundation stage, it is packed with engaging, cost-effective and achievable activity ideas to support the young creative mind. Including case studies, discussion boxes and reflective points, the chapters consider key topics underpinned by theoretical perspectives including: - Understanding he unique differences and needs of toddlers and pre-school children - Forming respectful relationships and understanding the impact they can have on creativity - Developing the environment and resources that enable creativity - Exploring outdoors and how to make the most of time with young children outside - Encouraging a process over product mindset - Understanding the role of the adult in supporting creative thinking and exploration This wonderful guide will inspire practitioners and equip them with the tools they need to fully support and cultivate the curious and creative side to every child.

All children deserve the tools to fight off whatever dragons they encounter and move happily through life. In Happily Ever Resilient Dr. Stephanie Goloway uses current trauma research and beloved multicultural variants of classic children’s fairytales to create joyful, playful learning experiences for young children. Part one of the book covers why using fairytales in early childhood classrooms supports resilience and literacy in all children, especially important for children who have experienced trauma and toxic stress. Part two covers how to do this. Each chapter includes Story Magic: information about the fairytale and its multicultural variants, how the story connects with the protective factors of resilience, and suggestions for storytelling and storyacting Caring Magic: activities that help children make connections with each other and adults in their lives, related to the story Doing Magic: suggestions for adapting classroom learning centers to support children’s engagement with both the fairytale and resilience, along with projects that promote initiative and executive functions Superpower Magic: activities, songs, and games related to the story that foster self-regulation as well as ways the story can be used to support calm, integrated transitions and routines By tapping into the extraordinary magic of fairytales early childhood educators can create the ordinary magic of resilience.