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Lights On Afterschool Shines Brightly in Texas

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A big star to our Abrakadoodle-Texas locations for helping to promote and importance of having quality after school programs!

Abrakadoodle-Austin was in attendance to help support the Central Texas Afterschool Network Breakfast of Champions 10th Annual Event on October 16th in conjunction with the Afterschool Alliance’s Lights On Afterschool campaign. More than 130 attendees took part to include a state representative, three school district superintendents, a mayor, a representative from the Texas Education Agency, as well as school board members from two districts. Awards were conferred and all was well received.

Abrakadoodle-North Dallas conducted Lights On Afterschool events at six after school locations, including: New Beginnings Academy, Centennial Montessori Academy, Wyatt Elementary Art Club, Olson Elementary Art Club, Redeemer Montessori School, as well as the YMCA After School Club.

In celebration of Lights On Afterschool, elementary students created “Blue Dogs” in the style of American Pop Artist George Rodrigue and the preschool children produced face sculptures in the style of Spanish-born artist Salvador Dali.

New thinking about doodling

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Research has long shown that art benefits children in many ways. Art education opens children’s minds and helps them become more tolerant. It also improves student’s academic performance and helps them develop the skills needed for the 21st century workplace – critical thinking, creative problem solving, effective communication, teamwork and more. New research published February 27, 2009 in the Journal of Applied Cognitive Psychology shows that the act of “doodling” may help improve memory recall. Study researcher Professor Jackie Andrade, Ph.D., of the School of Psychology, University of Plymouth said, “This study suggests that in everyday life doodling may be something we do because it helps to keep us on track with a boring task, rather than being an unnecessary distraction that we should try to resist doing.”

Promote creative doodling at home. Encourage your children not only to draw but to be inspired to stretch their imaginations and take their minds on a mini vacation. Take a moment from the busy day to be playful with art activities. Instead of a coloring book, give your child a blank sketch pad. Suggest that your child doodle a special creature, a new spaceship, a fanciful friend, or playful word art. Have some fun by offering themes or ideas that will spark your child’s creativity. Abrakadoodle remarkable art offers some online creativity games for kids – see http://www.abrakadoodle.com/kidsgamelist.html.

Creative Children’s Art Welcomes President Obama

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Art is a wonderful tool for children’s self-expression, and art students at participating Abrakadoodle locations nationwide shared their patriotism and visions for America as part of a colorful welcome for President Barack Obama.
Some students learned about the art of Jasper Johns as an inspiration for their art. They learned about Pop Art, encaustic painting and the use of texture. Children tried out smaller, quicker brush strokes in the style of Jasper Johns as they created American flags.
Other students learned about the life and words of Martin Luther King, Jr. and called upon his famous “I Have a Dream” speech to draw inspiration to bring their own dreams for the future into a work of art using words, images and shapes. Some children created Presidential Seals using model magic, while others created mobiles with inspirational phrases. One student literally made Presidential “seals” as shown left.
Children also created poster art in the collage style of contemporary artist Shepard Fairey, whose portrait of Barack Obama will be displayed at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C.

Art and History Prove to be a Powerful Combination

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Art education has a special place at the Barrier Islands Center, an historic site on Virginia’s Eastern Shore. Abrakadoodle offers special workshops, after school classes, art enrichment programs and summer camps for children. In some cases, Abrakadoodle customizes its visual arts lessons that teach children to use their imaginations as they render creative works that depict the islands’ early inhabitants, seascapes, as well as its unique vegetation, coastal birds and fish.

Abrakadoodle art students at the Barrier Islands Center participate in an Art Rocks workshop. Their art works are based upon the style of Shepard Fairey, the contemporary artist whose portrait of Barack Obama will soon grace the National Gallery Art. These creations were sent to the White House to welcome President Obama.

“Because the Barrier Islands Center is located in one of Virginia’s most impoverished communities, we are particularly grateful for the community participation of programs like Abrakadoodle,” stated Laura Vaughan, Executive Director of Barrier Islands Center. “Monika and Abrakadoodle not only provide valuable educational programming, but they also help bring dollars and boost interest and participation that are so important right now as we face tough economic times.”

For nearly four years, Abrakadoodle has been partnering with the Barrier Islands Center (http://www.barrierislandcenter.com/events.html) to creatively engage children, as well as to help raise funds to help further the center’s mission.

Artists for Kids: Charlotte Derain

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Art education is so important in today’s world. Creativity is an important element of children’s education. It not only helps students master traditional subjects like English, science, and math, but also brings cultural awareness. Charlotte Derain was born in Paris in 1949. She is a painter, designer, graphic designer and illustrator. Her Martinican origin was a source of creative inspiration while she found her own style. She devotes her career searching for her African roots. Derain brings art for kids by inviting them to reflect on their roots while being aware of other cultures.

What Kids Can Learn From Derain
(Art for Kids)


Charlotte Derain is known for her African figures. The figures are simple, but show movement. Children learn about stick figures and how to paint them in different poses. Also, they can practice painting clothes on the figures with swatches of paint. Charlotte brings art for kids with simple shapes.

Art education is about diversity. Derain’s artwork tells stories with her pictures. Instead of writing she paints life in Africa. Children can be inspired by her creativity to create a story representing their roots. Derain brings art to kids by introducing cultural art to their curriculum.
Charlotte Derain: Painter, inspired by “Woman wiht Basket”

Art for Kids

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Stress-Busting Gets Creative

Art education can help children cope with worries. Children under stress tend to bottle up their feelings, creating emotional and physical effects. With negative news dominating our newspapers and airwaves – from a struggling economy and war to issues closer to home with worried parents, less disposable income and school stress — children need to find healthy ways to manage. Art is one of the best ways you can help your children develop skills to express themselves and liberate their feelings to help maintain healthy emotional well-being.

The key in reducing or eliminating unhealthful stress is to provide children with the tools and attention to deal with stress and by giving them a healthy outlet that sets them up with coping skills for life.

Artful calming

Art for kids should be all about originality and creativity. You can create a space at home that promotes imaginative play:

* Set up a creativity center that your children can access, which contains lots of paper, crayons, markers, nontoxic paints and brushes, modeling compounds (like Crayola Model Magic®) and more;
* You can spiff up your creativity center by encouraging your children to add recycled materials from around the house (paper towel and toilet paper tubes; bows, ribbon, bottle caps, postcards, printer paper and more;
* Identify a place where your children can create art, such as your kitchen or a coffee table. Set up the rules, such as working on plastic or newspaper;
Instead of plopping down in front of the TV or a video game, encourage your children to grab their creativity tools and make something new;
* Create meaningful patterns, such as sitting with your children before they start their art, and teach them a relaxation technique. Tell them to shut their eyes, take a deep breath while they count to five and then slowly exhale while counting to five. Play with the idea, such as “in through the nose and out through the mouth” and “in through the mouth and out through the nose;”
* Never ever judge your children’s artwork. You want to empower them to use art to express their ideas, thoughts and feelings.

Above all, children need to know that they are loved and supported. Give hugs and model grace, calm and problem-solving. Sometimes children need just 15 minutes of your undivided attention. They need to turn off the TV and sources of distraction and learn to turn within to tap their own imaginations where a world of creative adventure awaits.

Art classes are another wonderful way to promote stress-busting, while fostering imaginative learning and developing new visual arts skills, technique and vocabulary. Learn more about Abrakadoodle remarkable art classes, in-school field trips, workshops, camps and parties: http://www.abrakadoodle.com/programs.htm.

Artists for Kids: Jasper Johns

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Teachers of art education will be interested in Jasper Johns. His most famous artwork, Flag, is a good example of citizenship, creativity and art for kids. Johns was born in Georgia, grew up in South Carolina, and he moved to New York City where he studied briefly at the Parsons School of Design. In NY he met Robert Rauschenberg (visual artist), Merce Cunningham (choreographer) and John Cage (composer). Working together they explored the contemporary art scene.

Initially Johns supported himself by working in a bookstore and designing window displays for prestigious stores. While visiting Rauschenberg’s studio, his creativity was discovered by Leo Castelli, who promoted his artwork on his gallery. Jasper Johns is often called the “Father of Pop Art” because he represents subjects that are popular in our culture.

What Kids Can Learn From Johns

(Art for Kids)


Art education is also a tool to educate children about citizenship. Johns’ most famous artwork is the painting Flag, which he made after having a dream of the American flag. Through his work children can learn about the American flag’s colors and the meaning of the stripes and the stars.

Jasper Johns brings art for kids by introducing Pop Art to their curriculum. Pop Art uses images from the popular mass culture. Children can be inspired by comic books, advertising, TV and everyday cultural objects. Jasper Johns likes to repeat the same object over and over and color them with different colors.

Learn more about Jasper Johns on the web at:

http://www.nga.gov/cgi-bin/pbio?65280

Art for Kids brings Election Day Excitement into the Classroom

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Art education is a wonderful way to help integrate children’s learning, including symbols that characterize the American experience. At the Academy of Christian Education in Fairfax County, Virginia, as in many public and private classrooms nationwide, children engaged in activities that connected them to our general election. This class of approximately 20 students, representative of numerous ethnic groups and cultures, engaged in a Jasper Johns art lesson that entailed painting American flags. What a sight to behold!

Artists For Kids: Alma Thomas

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After working in art education for several years, Alma Thomas enrolled at Howard University in Washington, DC to study costume design. She became the first African American woman to hold a fine arts degree. Following a long career as a teacher, she retired to focus on her own creativity and art.

Thomas’s work was included in the important show Contemporary Black Artists in America, held in 1971 at the Whitney Museum in New York. She was the first African American woman to have a solo art exhibition at the same museum. Three years after she died, a retrospective exhibition was held at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American Art. Besides a distinguished career teaching art for kids, her work can be found in many major museums.

What Kids Can Learn From Thomas
(Art for Kids)

Alma Thomas loved children and she had an important role in art education. But, she also loved to learn. She was interested in space programs and she often painted from satellite photographs. She often looked at her garden and watched its changes. She could hear the wind playing music in the trees, and she loved to watch the grass color change after the rain. She enjoyed all these changes that inspired her artwork at the same time that she was learning about nature. Her creativity was inspired by science and nature.

Thomas loved to smile and she liked to paint with bright colors. Primary colors were often used in her artwork to make her paintings look happy and vibrant. Thomas brings art for kids by inspiring them to look closely at nature and to use patterns and colors to create art that makes them happy. Can you see the flowers in your neighborhood singing and smiling on a sunny day?

Alma Thomas: Painter, inspired by “Iris, Tulips, Jonquils and Crocuses”

Learn more about Alma Thomas on the web at:

http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-1040

Lights On Afterschool 2008

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Art education offers a palette of positive after school program choices for children

Abrakadoodle remarkable art is a proud national partner of the ninth annual Lights On Afterschool campaign (see http://www.afterschoolalliance.org/), which kicks off this week to celebrate what children can accomplish in quality after school programs and to emphasize the importance of keeping after school program lights on and doors open. Abrakadoodle programs across the country will help draw attention to the value of after school programs and will also celebrate the creative works of its after school participants.

Art education is a great after school option for children for so many reasons. Children are open and eager to learn in the hours that follow the school day. Programs like Abrakadoodle offer children the opportunity to de-stress and build their creative muscles. Art exercises the right side of the brain, which helps children see the big picture, perceive patterns and understand greater relationships. Educational researchers, authors and other experts are increasingly advocating for more emphasis to be placed on helping children develop their imaginations as an important component of healthy, whole-brain development. Quality art programs encourage children to produce original creations, which helps develop a sense of empowerment in children. Faced with budget cuts, some schools have cut back on visual arts enrichment, depriving children of this valuable and meaningful form of expression.

We know that art for kids can really make a difference. Laura Aka, Director of Abrakadoodle programs in Los Angeles, California says that she has had a few teachers share such comments made by young children in after school art classes as, “I love art and want to be an art teacher when I grow up!”

Whether children want to pursue a visual arts career or are interested in medicine, the environment or designing transportation systems of the future, art education can help prepare them by developing creative right-brain skills that are so beneficial across all professions.

Abrakadoodle supports keeping the lights shining brightly on after school programs!