Preschool of the Arts

In the Blue Room children collaborated on a large mural that pulls together all of the things they have explored, experienced, and created in the Art Studio over this past year. The impetus for this work started last week with a discussion with some of the children which prompted the idea of working on a … Continue reading →

The lingering winter can cause some yucky weather, but there are some benefits! When temperatures drop below freezing at night, and then rises during the day, it causes perfect conditions for tapping maple trees.   Many maple trees can be found on Preschool of the Arts property, and Kristin, our Environment and Facilities Manager, has … Continue reading →

Children learn from learn from the natural world in endless ways. It is often easy for learning moments to go unseen as the ‘business’ of daily life can keep us from slowing down and noticing the smaller moments that have the potential of turning into something bigger. On Tuesday, after a fresh snowfall, one student … Continue reading →

To supplement their growing interest in birds, the White Room children used the sensory and grounding medium of clay to explore the different parts and forms of birds. After a while of just reacquainting themselves with clay and practicing the different ways in which it can be molded and manipulated, they began their work on … Continue reading →

During our music time last week, Miss Ann, the music specialist, gave Salón Morado – the Purple Room – a few sheets of blank music staves to take back to the classroom.  As we walked back to the classroom, we wondered how the whole class use the three sheets of music. “We can all write … Continue reading →

In the Art Studio, the Blue Room children used light, shadow, and projection as a way to explore our city of Madison, Wisconsin. My intention behind this work was to challenge the children to think differently about the shapes and details they noticed in the landscape. I wondered if by tracing the positive and negative … Continue reading →

In the Rainbow Room, in art, the children worked on creating collaged self-portraits. The intention behind this was to see if they were able to recognize and organize their features in relation to each other, and create a holistic image. Would they be able to see and make sense of the individual parts which make … Continue reading →

In October 2017, the founder of Preschool of the Arts, Barbara Goy passed away. Barbara was instrumental in her vision for developing Preschool of the Arts.  Many families in Madison have Barbara to thank for the wonderful early childhood education their children received. An excerpt from Barbara Goy’s obituary: Of the many interests that Barbara embraced in her … Continue reading →

What do emotions look like? What do they feel like? How can the children express themselves, and how can they do it effectively? How do we help the children understand- where is my space and what is yours? How can we support them in realizing what their body needs, and how to support them in … Continue reading →

On these beautiful fall days, the Art Studio likes to take advantage of the weather by drawing and painting outside. “En plein air” is a French expression which refers to the act of painting outdoors in natural light and capturing what the eye actually sees. The subject for our outdoor painting was a beautiful maple … Continue reading →