My 2 year old son has long had an appreication for art, and by “appreciation” I mean a desire to scribble on my windows and walls with crayons. His favorite activity at his Mother’s Day Out program is coloring and painting. That’s why I send him, so that others can deal with that mess. But really, it is something I’d like to encourage. I just need to be smart about channeling it to a suitable medium, like paper.
When I heard about the Toddler Art classes at the Dallas Museum of Art, I figured I’d try out for Mom Of The Year and sign him up for one. We attended one on a Friday at the beginning of May, and I have to say I was pretty impressed. Our class focused on Oceans and Coastlines, based on a collection of paintings they were displaying at the time. We, along with approximately 10 other toddlers and their accompanying grownups sat on the floor, surrounded by beautiful paintings, and talked all about the ocean. The instructor was engaging and passed around sea shells while showing pictures of sea life. I do regret not bringing a stroller to keep my son contained (something I didn’t even think of until I saw other moms with theirs), but it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, and plenty of the other children were without one, too. You’ll, hopefully, understand now why I don’t have any pictures of my son participating. I have to keep one hand within inches of him at all times, and I haven’t yet figured out how to take pictures while taming a toddler. We ended the class by heading to Arturo’s Nest, a charming classroom with all sorts of stimulating activities set up. My son got to work on creating a beautiful masterpiece, inspired by the ocean. He really had a blast using all the materials provided, like sandpaper and cotton balls, to make a picture that I was super proud to bring home and put on the refrigerator. In addition to the art table, the children were able to explore textures and shapes, seashells were set up with giant magnifying glasses. The hour long class went by in a flash, and I hope to take him again someday soon. It’s a perfect, well air-conditioned, escape during the summer heat.
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