Atelier box September :)

The children squeal and jump around when the Atelier art studio box arrives, and I snap a quick picture even though in our busy busy day I don't know if we'll get it opened. I love that it prompts me to make time for creativity, even if we haven't done anything else artsy in weeks. I love that they get something new presented to them that I might not have offered, or not have offered now.

Could this month have been any more perfect for Jenna? Last month she had been so obsessed with wire sculpture, and lo and behold beads and wire arrive. This month she has been asking to do some print making and I had put her off! The Great Wave off Kanagawa by Hishikawa Moronobu has been one of her favourite pieces of art for such a long time.







I also enjoyed that surprise at their discovery that her design was reversed when printed. Discovery is so magical and meaningful when it just happens like that, I'm kind of glad I didn't get all grown-up on them and explain very much in advance.

As usual, the box came with quality tools to use over and over, and plenty of inspiring ideas for extending the project have occurred to us already. The big glass jars of paint will be favourites for weeks now, just as the shake-and-mix ones were!

Studio Box with BEADS!

We got our My Little Atelier box from Woodland Children again, so exciting to open and see what activities are inside to inspire us to create something new this month. This month's box was SO incredibly generous, lots of thoughtful options for children to create depending on age and ability, and even something for the smallest artists to join in with older siblings.





This month is based on African bead art and sculptures, and there were a selection of suggested ideas to try. Morgan started by making a flat picture with wire and teeny tiny glass beads (she was so patient putting the tiniest beads perfectly in order) and then I carefully twisted the wire ends together and made a little loop for her to wear it as a necklace.

Meanwhile Tali and Roo had their own easier-on-little-fingers option. Rowan just wanted to thread beads, so I turned her little "bracelets" into a hanging sculpture for her. Admittedly mostly to stop the bracelets getting lost as quickly... She is so proud of it, and keeps telling people to look up at the window and see "my work"!





We also got a bead mosaic activity, which they haven't had chance to get to yet. So another great surprise this month - and materials left to carry over for more creative activities through the month. :)

Atelier Studio-Box Day!

We signed up for Little Atelier boxes with Woodland Children last month. I thought it'd prompt some different art activities with the girls and be beautiful things to strew for these art-loving children. :) Woodland Children have such lovely things anyway, and we know we love lots of their ranges, so I trusted that the contents would be brilliant quality.

Box day came, and we were all very excited by the pretty parcel that arrived. I *love* getting exciting post (you know, not the boring-but-necessary things), especially when it's a surprise. :)


And here's what we got this month: close up photographs of plants, lovely big glass jars with paint powder, pallete for colour mixing, brushes, information on the artist we could take inspiration from, and even paper to paint on.


The suggested activity took over an hour even without the jar-shaking paint-mixing fun, and we have the painting gear and lots of paint left over to use for other projects. In fact there was plenty of everything for three children to get involved and enjoy the activity, and the materials could easily have gone around a larger group. So it was pretty good value, and an interesting afternoon. :)