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.

Sheridan , Mia, Evie- ride a 2 wheeler bike

Luke & Natalie- learn to write

Annalise & Hannah- learn to snap

Cate & Phoebe- learn to whistle

Eliana- do the monkey bars

Zach S.-speak Spanish

Alyssa- learn to speak French

Ben- learn my lines in the play

Maybe one day, I will learn to hula hoop like these kids are…

In groups, we made dances celebrating learning to do these things. The kids said that learning something new takes practice, paying attention, bravery and hard work!  We talked about how imagining yourself doing something is a good way to practice it.  Dancing it or acting it out is another way to build confidence!  After our “Yes we can dances”, we moved into 3 big groups to create dance tricks using props. 

Kids chose to create a dance using hula hoops, scarves or a parachute to share at Friday’s show.  They also made special awards for themselves in art class and painted their clay projects.

In drama, each group finished their play!  All actors are practicing remembering lines and cues- a good challenge for the week.  In our last couple of days together, we’ll explore all ways to move through stage fright and how to help one another if we forget what to do.  The kids are thrilled to see their story ideas come to life and chat about the play during snack time and after care.  Friday will be an exciting event and a perfect way to end the summer!

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

When your child arrives at the Glitter & Razz PlaySpace on a Tuesday or Wednesday at 4:00, they will be welcomed and invited to play.  They’ll see the wide-open, carpeted floor and stage.  They’ll notice colorful artwork that other kids have made decorates pale blue walls.  And each week, they’ll see something new-something enticing-waiting for them in the middle of the floor.  These materials (refrigerator box, balloons, hula hoops, costumes, scarves, etc.) will be different every week and will invite open-ended creative play. Inspired by Stanley Greenspan’s Floortime Model of child-led play, this 15-20 min. of each class will help kids enter at their own pace, practice coming up with spontaneous play ideas and experience the joy that happens while connecting with friends.  I’ll notice what kind of support each child needs to engage.  I’ll help “expert players” reach out to kids who need an invitation to play and reinforce the joyful, relaxed vibe in the room.  We be laughing, making friends and creating stories before we know it.

At 4:15 or so, I’ll grab my drum and sing a welcome song that transitions us into clean up and circle time.  There’s nothing like rhythm and ritual to help kids know what’s expected.  We’ll each get a chance to say our name, play the drum and answer the question of the day.  Kids can say “no thanks” to pass on their turn and I’ll say “no problem,” encouraging them to share at the own pace.  Each week, kids will get a new turn to try- by the end of session, even our shyest kids tend to look forward to this time.  This question of the day is how I gather the thoughts, interests and creative ideas of the group.  And since the Fall Session is all about “The Adventures of Friendship”, kids will explore questions like…

• What’s your favorite thing to play with a friend?
• What are good ways to show a friend you like them?
• What can you do if you don’t like what a friend is doing?
• What question can you ask to learn more about someone new?
• Tell about a time you and a friend had an adventure…(real or make believe)

I’ll take the answers to these questions and have the whole class dance them using scarves.  They’ll work in partners to act out scenes using the ideas and in small groups to create artwork.  We’ll play name games and drama games.  We’ll sing songs, paint and use glitter.  We’ll practice Kid Power Techniques of throwing mean words in the trashcan instead of taking them into our hearts. We’ll go to the Glitter & Razz Peace Place to talk out any conflicts. And as the weeks go on, we’ll begin devising our very own play that takes the audience on an adventure through friendship.  Your children will choose their own never-before-seen-on-tv  characters and make-up a story with a beginning, middle and end.  There will be conflicts to solve, dances, facepaint and costumes.  They will rehearse lines (prompted by my narration, as needed!) and theatrical blocking.  They will practice taking center stage, sharing loud voices and knowing when it is their turn to shine.  On the last day of class, they will share their performance as a gift to the audience and celebrate the friendships they’ve made through creative collaboration.  The skills and confidence they build can be carried with them to school, home and every other situation.

ABOUT ALLISON

In Co-Founding Glitter & Razz with my partner, Lynn in 2003, I had the chance to develop the programs of my dreams…literally.  Designing these Itty Bitty Theater Workshops for young children has been one of the main joys in my life, along with teaching the teachers who love them.  In the past 2 years, I’ve taken a break from leading our programs on site to design and lead trainings for preschool teachers all over the Bay Area.  Leading staff teams through my “Dramatic Play in the Preschool Classroom” series and “Relax and Play Awhile: Stress Management for Children and Grown Ups” framework has been a fabulous extension of this work.  I’ve also had the chance to work with Dr. Ilene Lee of Floortime Services, Inc. as a social facilitator for young children on the Autism Spectrum.  Floortime Play Therapy is a perfect extension of the work we do at Glitter & Razz.  It’s child led, open-ended, honors feelings and strives for optimal experiences of joy.  I can’t wait to work with your children in our Glitter & Razz PlaySpace sometime this year!

Here’s a sneak peek of Allison in action…

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.