We hope that you can use this framework as you are transitioning your children into a fall full of new experiences!

This morning at circle time, I introduced a “Yes I Can!” framework to the kids. It goes like this…
When you want to try something new, but are feeling afraid, you can:
1) SEE IT (close your eyes and imagine yourself doing it- bedtime is good for this)
2) SAY IT (put your hand on your heart and say “I can do it”)
3) DRAW IT (draw a picture or make a book that tells the story of you doing this new thing)
4) PLAY IT (act it out or dance it- on your own, with a friend or a grown-up)

Every expressive arts therapist knows that imagination, positive affirmations, art-making and play are some of the most powerful tools around. Not only do these things help us relax and have fun, but acting something out before we do it in real life counts as actual practice toward succeeding in our goal. This can be about tangible tasks, like tying our shoes or a broader topic like starting a new school.

At circle today, the kids shared one thing they hope will happen when they go to school next week. Most of admitted to feeling excited and a little bit nervous about this transition. We closed our eyes and imagined all the things we hoped would happen. Than we offered positive affirmations like “Yes, I can go to kindergarten!” and “Yes, I will make new friends!” “Yes, I can be brave even if I’m scared, too!” We drew pictures of ourselves at school next week and shared them with our neighbors. Then we pretended to be in school learning new songs, asking a kind teacher for help and playing fun things with friends.

Even in this heat, things were super-cool down in our basement!  The kids are already working on their plays and chose 2 fabulous locations for their stories- “places where you learn hard things!”.  All of our 4 year olds will be performing a play that takes place at a swimming pool and the oldest kids chose a roller rink in outer space.  Fabulous! First, we brainstormed a list of all possible locations and used sticker voting to decide.  Then we drank magic potion to turn us into all the characters that would show up at these spots- a life guard, swim instructor, swimming kitties…roller skaters, aliens and bad guys in space ships.

Tonight, the “script fairies” will come to my house and put together a written script for our oldest campers.  Typically, we don’t use written scripts in our itty-bitty camps, but since this is the week of “YES WE CAN”…why not? Many of our oldest kids have been through camps lots of times and the whole group seems up to the challenge.  They were very excited when I explained this to them today.  Tomorrow, we’ll “read” through the script together like professional actors- this means I can feed non-readers their lines and then we’ll all memorize it by practicing on our feet over and over.  After all, acting is doing.

Our 4 year olds already practiced the first half of their play today, staging the introductions of their characters and getting them all started with swim lessons.  Tomorrow, we’ll continue exploring what goes wrong and how they work together to solve the problem in the story.

In art, we explored clay, learning new skills like rolling out spirals and then making whatever shapes we chose.  We danced across the floor in move and groove, dancing in pairs and small groups.  We also made up our own moves with buddies using scarves and veils.  All this small group work is helping us learn names and make new friends at camp.  We’re starting to really make connections and the overall vibe is very creative and sweet.

After care kids have had a very exciting past 2 days playing with my puppies. Chihuahua, Roxie and Yorkie, Rufus have the perfect energy for a group of kids under 6.  They’ve been very gentle, curious and playful  with the pups- a special way to end the day!

What a fabulous group of kids we have for our last week at camp! We started off the theme by giving kids a chance to share what things they can do all on their own.  Answers included: pull vegetables from my garden, button my coat, pick up the kitty, jump off things, pick out my clothes for school and even clean the whole house!  We also talked about the feelings we have when we can do things on our own.  Proud, good and amazed.  Yes.

In drama, we played games that teach us that ACTING IS DOING! We took turns offering ideas about hard things the group could act out and responding “Yes we Can!” before pretending to do each of the things.  The collective “Yes we can!” reinforces the first rule in improv- saying yes to your fellow actors.  It keeps the fun going instead of stopping it and creates an environment of supportive play.  The kids loved this game and asked that we play again tomorrow.  We also worked with props, turning an ordinary stick into everything from a telephone to a magic wand and even roller skates.  The kids sat together in pairs, passing the stick back and forth as they acted out their ideas for one another.  We ended with a “stick performance” on stage and lots of high fives for our work.

Magic Messes was a favorite time of day for lots of kids.  We made our own books and collaged the covers using bits of recycled art projects from earlier in the summer.  The kids are using the books in a variety of ways- some writing their own stories, others using the pages to write and learn all the names of kids at camp. Our playground time was a highlight today (thank you Rockridge Little School!) and we enjoyed all the sunshine.  Friendships are already starting to form and the kids are feeling right at home.

The kids are off and running with this week’s play!  We chose characters today by exploring all the possible creatures that would hang out in the locations we chose.  (Sure, they’ll allow elephants on an airplane- why not?) Then, we drank a magic potion that turned us into the characters we chose for the play.  The kids created lines and I helped them stage the first half of each story.  We practiced listening to the drum and narration to know when it’s our turn and using loud and proud voices on stage.  It’s exciting to see our ideas come to life!

We sang 2 new songs in Move & Groove that will add a sense of adventure to our final show.  We also got to paint yesterday’s play projects and begin painting artwork to hang as the backdrop for our play on Friday.  In closing circle, we celebrated our youth intern, Nora who has been with us for the past 3 weeks of Itty Bitty Camp.  Today was her last day- thanks for everything, Nora!  The kids thanked her for “holding my hand on the walk,” “helping so much” and “being a good friend.”

In Magic Messes, we got a chance to paint our sculptures from yesterday. We also did a brainstorm of things you might find at our story locations so we could decide what we needed to start creating for our set. Then the kids got right to it by covering a few huge pieces of paper with paint to be cut into backdrop elements for the show.

This is the view from where I park my car at the Bay Area Discovery Museum. There was no fog today. Can you believe it?

This week, our Up, Up & Away Camp is on its own trans-bay adventure.  Sure, Glitter & Razz co-founder, Allison Kenny leading an Itty Bitty Arts Camp on this theme at the Glitter & Razz Play Space.  AND, I (Lynn Johnson, the other Glitter & Razz founder) am leading my very own Up, Up & Away Camps at the Bay Area Discovery Museum in Sausalito.  Although I miss being back at my home base, I am getting such a kick out of being on the road, especially in a place as beautiful as Marin County.  I work with 6 and 7 year olds in the morning and 4-5 year olds in the afternoon and our adventures in adventure camp have truly been…well…an adventure.  We’ve made up dances and stories to perform on Friday, practiced how to make friends, take turns, and use “Please” and “thank you” in calm voices.  We have also created lots of art.  We even encountered a skunk today.

Anyway, back in Oakland, check out what the crew has been doing the last couple of days:

MONDAY

The Ultimate Kids Adventure Story!

On our first day exploring Up, Up & Away, we spent drama class acting out one of the most famous adventure stories of all time- “Where the Wild Things Are.” Kids loved choosing their favorite characters to play from the classic story, including the forest, Max’s dog, the ocean and the boat.  It was great to practice taking turns on stage, sharing lines loud and proud and bringing characters to life.  Now that we’ve done it with a story we all know and love, tomorrow we can start creating our own story from scratch.  We also learned our acting warm-up that helps us practice standing in neutral position (“neutral means I am ready for anything!”) and moving all at the same time.  We’ll share this as part of our Friday performance to honor the discipline it takes for us to work together as a creative ensemble.

In Move and Groove we learned scarf tricks and worked on generating movement. We also practiced copying each others moves.

Voila! The Scarf Tricks.

In Magic Messes we ripped paper to make mosaic self portraits to make our Wall of Fame for Fridays show.

TUESDAY

In drama today, the kids began working on their very own adventure play.  We played “The Where Game” to practice being in different locations and learned that “acting is doing!” We explored some of the kids’ favorite places to have an adventure- Lake Tahoe, around the block, an airplane, out to dinner, San Diego zoo and an ice cream shop.  To do this, we worked in small groups, meeting friends and learning names.

Drama Teacher Allison Kenny is picking locations out of a "hat" to help play "The Where Game."

The kids are really connecting and having a great time inventing games at Kids Choice as well. We’re practicing calmly saying “please stop” if games get too rough and making safe rules for high energy games that develop.  For example, today when 2 kids began wrestling, I joined them and asked them to “freeze please.” They responded beautifully and I put large piece of durable fabric in their hands.  I facilitated a game of tug-o-war with the fabric, counting down to 10 and asking both kids to gently let go at the same time.  This was a great release of physical energy and had kids lining up to play.  We made sure a teacher held on to the fabric midway to keep the game going and kids from falling down.  This kind of supported free play allows kids to be safe and have fun at the same time- one of our main priorities at camp.  In some ways, the spontaneous play is even more important than the teacher-directed classes as it helps kids build communication skills and self reliance while following their own imaginative impulses.  This is the stuff creative kids are made of!

In Magic Messes we got to make anything that reminded us of adventures out of our own ball of clay which we will get to paint on tomorrow. We also got to make a map with our groups for our own adventure.

Setting the Clay out to dry

In Move and Groove we explored what you do while riding inside of different forms of transportation (a boat, an airplane, etc) and also what it feels like to become one of those things.

We are mid-week in the We Are Nature Camp.  This is the week where our Itty Bitties are using drama, dance, and visual art to explore the our human connection to the rest of nature around us.  At Itty Bitty Arts Camp, we start and end each day with a moment of silence while listening to a gong chime. In between those quiet moments, the place is humming with creativity!

So far, in Drama class with Cassie, we have learned how to share the stage and take turns speaking and moving together as a group. We have learned that “acting is doing;” that we have to share our bodies and voices to show (instead of tell) our story to the audience.  We also have used drama class to help us create our original story for the play.  We practiced doing things in different locations in nature.  This helped us brainstorm locations for where our play will take place.  They have created their own characters and found ways to connect them to other characters. The plays ROCK so far. The extreme level of energy translates well into our drama class and the campers are creating a great story full of creative ideas.

In Magic Messes class with Sophia, we ripped and pasted a mosaic self portrait of ourselves—which will be hanging up on display for all to see on Friday.  Our young artists made prints of leaves and explored what happens when nature and paint connect.  Instead of paint brushes, we used banana peels, twigs, ferns and all kinds of leaves.  These beautiful murals will be shaped into the backdrop for our play.

In Move & Groove, we are developing cool tricks with scarves and hula hoops to put into some dances for the show.  We have also created dances in 3 groups celebrating Earth, Air and Fire.  We’ve danced with scarves and veils, sung songs and made friends.  The kids have shared their ideas about what exactly nature is,  what we love about it,  and how humans sometimes harm it.  Next, we’ll explore what we can do to help solve these problems and put the good ideas they come up with into the plays.

We are not in class all the time, by the way.  Headed by Cinda and supported by the rest of our staff, Kiona and, youth intern, Nora, the kids have also enjoyed tons of free play time and rest time.  On our daily Neighborhood Walk, we have extended our nature them by practicing being observers of nature. We have seen so many things in our neighborhood that are also a part of nature. Sophia even found wild strawberries in a patch of ivy. We were all amazed by the nature around us.  We have even used many of the items we have found in our art making.

Each day, there is a question of the day.  Here’s just a peek of our conversations:

Monday: What is nature?

Nature is the whole world.     -TJ

Nature is plants.          -Luke

It’s somewhere where there is grass and stuff.         -Sasha

Nature is Stars.           -Penny

Nature is the sky.        -Olive

When nature comes apart it means plants are dying.           -Zachary A.D.

Trees. -Claire

Plants.             -Vivian

Nature is when people don’t make what is there.     -Luke

Nature is special.        -Mina

Trees are pretty.         -Gemma

Trees have leaves.      -Mozi

Nature is beautiful, cool, awesome, and interesting, and fun, and nice too!           -Zachary S

Beautiful.        -Mikayla

Flowers bloom.           -Jonah

Nature is soft.             -Lucy

Nature is very special and I like it ‘cause it’s part of the world. –Shoshana

Nature is far away, a long drive.        -Xavier

Nature is something, like a tree is nature and flowers.         -Kaia

Nature is anything that is anything.   -Chloe

Tuesday:  Why is nature important?

Because you don’t want to pick flowers which other people have planted. – Julia

You don’t want to pick flowers, sometimes they’re on trees. I’ve seen a magnolia tree with pink flowers. –Zachary A.D

Sometimes there’s pennies on the ground and you pick them up. – Jonah

Nature is important cause it helps people. Like the trees give fruit. – Penelope

Cause trees are paper. –Jonah

Cause it saves plants, grow food, and food grows on plants. –Claire

Nature is important because it is special. If there wasn’t, there wouldn’t be animals. And counting animals, people are animals, so we wouldn’t be here either. –Zachary S.

If there is no nature, animals can’t live.  –Ella

If there was not any nature you could breathe, neither be alive, neither be alive, neither have a mom or a dad. – TJ

Because then we won’t get to go camping. And there won’t be animals there won’t be plants. –Sasha

Because beaches are nature so people can live. – Zachary W

Nature is fun. It would be boring without nature. – Lucy

Because it gives us information on how it feels. – Mina

Because birds are nice and they make sounds like flutes. I don’t want birds to die. Nature is nice. – Gemma

I really like sparrows and larks and robins. I like the sounds they make. If there were no trees, we couldn’t breath.  – Luke

Without nature it would be cold. – Vivian

I think nature is important because water makes animals who can’t breathe out of water, be able to breath. Nature sometimes makes things grow. – Shoshana

Because birds like to live in trees and if they don’t they wont be happy. – Olive

Because trees give us paper, some people need to draw. – Xavier

Because trees give us water, sometimes your lips are dry and you want water. – Mikayla

If there wasn’t soil the plants couldn’t grow. – Mozi

I think that planting is important. – Kaia

It is common at Glitter & Razz camp that Wednesday is the “conflict” day.  We have gotten more comfortable with each other over the past 2 days and now we begin to test our bonds with each other. We introduced the Peace Place, our section of the Play Space dedicated to individual quiet time and interpersonal conflict resolution.  We tend to mediate the resolution as adults but, the kids got so into it that some girls used it and worked it out without any teacher help at all.

In Drama class, we started working on the plot of our play. We practiced taking turns, listening to each other’s ideas, and creating scenes.  Not easy work, but the heart and soul of the collaborative process.

In Move & Groove, we worked with mirroring and then learned choreography and tricks at 3 different stations—hula hoops, veils, and scarves.

In Magic Messes they got to collectively slather paint all over big sheets of paper—later to be turned into backdrop elements for our play.

Why is it hard to be a super hero/shining star?

“Because they might get fire when they save people fire.” –Mina

“Maybe some tall rocks get in the way. It’s hard because they are and no one can fly through them.” – Sophie

“Something big blocking you can’t get past. You can’t get over or under or through. – Alesi

“They have to work hard.” –Haley

“They have to save people.” – Zach

“Bad guys, super bad guys, like spider man.” – Ella

“You really can’t be one, but you really want to. In real life you can’t just turn right into a superhero.” –Greta

“When your fighting you don’t know what to do. Because some people don’t know how to fights. Some super heroes fly and some can’t.” –T.J.

“sometimes when super heroes fly they crash land.” – Lily

How can I be a super hero or shining star helper at camp today?

If they don’t know what to color I can help them think of an idea. -Mina

I can be a super hero helper by cleaning up and helping lift heavy things. -Hana

I can listen to the teachers. -Jaden

If someone gets hurt, say what happened, and say sorry that happened to you. -Pepper

We could put on a play to show all the superheroes! -Sophie

A superhero helps you when you need help. There’s bad guys in the play and the superheroes. -Chloe

You can help them by trying to get them. -Cort

You can save people who are in a fire.  -Greta

By helping people, do anything probably. -Sienna

By being a helper. Help the people that are sick, making people have friends. -Helena

When people fall down you can help them up. -Sofia

I can help people that feel bad, help them feel a little better by sending them food. -Lily

By helping them clean up. -TJ

Use costumes. -Quinn

Today at camp we practiced making new friends. Students practiced sitting next to someone new in Drama class. They had to figure out how to share a hula hoop with lots of friends in a Move ‘n Groove game. We all worked hard to help each other clean up (no one is done until we are all done!).  At the first kid’s choice almost everyone was sitting on the stage playing board games. It was inspiring to see so many campers focused on playing games together: you can’t play a board game by yourself!

At the end of the day we used our celebrations and community circle to think about all the new friends we made at camp. Cinda helped us remember to look at the person we are talking to. Our super heroes are making new super friends!

In magic messes we made super hero wrist cuffs that help them show off their super powers and (of course) we added glitter to make them shine!!

Here are some other things we know about Superheroes:

When someone tries to shoot something at you; duck!

I can capture a bad guy.

You can pretend your shining.

Paint yourself yellow!

I can be a super helper camper!

Think about it like you’re a cat with wings, you can fly up and help people.

Dress up.

Act like a super hero.

Save people like princes.

Save people of bad guys and chase them.

Dress up, become a super hero, butterfly, princess or ballerina.

Can fly!

I can save people.

When someone’s in need of help, take them to doctor.

Self-Portrait Collages that the Kids Made with teaching artist, Audette Sophia. They simply used ripped construction paper, glue sticks, and a lot of imagination. This is the epitome of the open-ended, creativity-based art activities we value here at Glitter & Razz. And the kids LOVED IT!

Superheroes and Shining Stars are back!  It’s August at Glitter & Razz and that means Itty Bitties – our week-long arts camps for 4-6 year olds.

Our Superstar team of teaching artists – Cinda, Cassie, Sophia, and Kiona – plus 2 youth interns, Nora and Talia, are leading the kids on an adventure of creating their very own play that accesses their own power to help save the world.  Today in Drama Class with Cassie, we talked about what makes a superhero? We went to the “superhero grocery store” and collected all the things superheroes do (because, as we teach, acting is doing).  We decided that superheroes help people, wear special costumes, have magical powers.  Of course, there are even super hero princesses.  After collecting all the things super heroes do, we created characters. This the first step in our play creation process and is exciting as the kids get to come up with their very own super hero. We practiced using our voices onstage and learned that we have to use a strong and loud voice to be heard. The kids are already experts at our super hero warm up!

In Move & Groove, our creative movement class with Sophia,  we played with generating movement and copying each others moves.  This copying was a great way to encourage shyer kids who couldn’t think of/share their own moves right away. There was a lot of shyness in Move & Groove in the beginning, but by the end of the day everyone had warmed up.  By the time we played some freeze dance with scarfs, you would have thought we knew each other all our lives!

These past 2 days at camp have been full of excitement, joy and generosity that doesn’t quit!  We had the absolute pleasure of hosting Vicki Dello Joio as a guest artist to work with the girls yesterday.  Vicki is a personal friend of mine and one of the women I admire most.  She is Chi Kung Master who after 30 years of teaching, recently documented her “Way of Joy” Practice in a book that was literally life changing for me to read.  Lynn and I take her classes any chance we get and knew that her playful style, humor and beautiful spirit would be a perfect fit for the girls.  We were right!  They loved “shaking awake” with Vicki and sensing the powerful chi energy between their hands after rubbing them together.

In our celebrations ritual, one of the girls thanked Vicki for “teaching me something new that I didn’t know yet in my life.” Another thanked her for giving us our Way of Joy warm up that we do every morning to kick off our day- which we’ll share with you at Saturday’s show.

Since our amazing ensemble of actors is ahead of the game (we’ve NEVER run through the WHOLE show on Wednesday before!) the girls are getting extra practice on projecting their voice. Lynn is reinforcing the idea of a play as a gift for the audience- if the audience can’t hear you, they can’t receive their gift.  It’s like giving a present that’s impossible to unwrap. Sharing your voice is more important than costumes, props, the set or anything else.  Those things are coming along famously as well.  With the show around the corner, it’s naturally time for the girls to begin expressing fears and some performance anxiety.  This morning in expressive arts, we danced our feelingsfrom “Stage Fright” to “Ta-Dah!”

From Stage Fright...

...to Ta Da!

In pairs, girls danced across the floor, showing different ways they can transform feelings of fear into excitement for the play.  Here’s what they came up with:

From Stage Fright to Ta-Dah!

1. Pretend you are performing in your room to your dolls
2. Practice your lines and think positive!
3. “Brush out the bad stuff” using Way of Joy Chi Kung
4. Trust that the audience will like it
5. Look out over their heads at the back wall
6. Drink water.  Have a snack.
7. Take 3 deep breaths- blow away the fear
8. Remember, your friends can help you
9. Imagine the audience is sitting in their undies (make yourself laugh)
10. Look over the script and be confident
11. Stay focused
12. Just follow through- do it cause you said you would
13. Remember the audience will be proud of us
14. Think of how happy you’ll feel after the play
15. HAVE FUN!!!!