Light table kaleidoscope

On Tuesday and Thursday mornings, Artschmart is open with playful, drop-in art projects, and sometimes people come in with kids that are a little too young to really do the project we have set up. I asked Abby, a wonderful teacher and early childhood expert, what we could do, and she suggested setting up something related, but just for them, like a sensory bin. For the tiling and geometry projects we’re experimenting with, I thought a light table might do the trick, so I brought mine in from home and we made some colorful, translucent plastic tiles for it.

the light table with a variety of colorful, translucent tiling shapes

It was so bright and colorful, it reminded me a bit of a kaleidoscope, and so then, of course, we had to try this . . .

We are going to try keeping Artschmart all ages on Tuesday and Thursday mornings by setting up a small table or sensory bin with a related (and age-appropriate) activity that younger kids can explore. The space is small, and it can get a bit chaotic at times, but we are hoping to make it a space that is for families and friends, and some of those friends are little. The best interactions that have happened at Artschmart have been with groups of people of different ages, sitting around the table, talking and making art together. At its best, it feels like the kind of experience you might have with a group of friends around your kitchen table, and I am hoping we can make it a space that is welcoming to everyone, including the adults and teenagers and older kids that want to engage in a more complex project.