Fine Arts:

• Ceramics/Polymer: In the ceramics class, we will do both quickie daily projects as well as more ambitious week-long projects. Students will get practice hand-building and glazing, creating pots and bowls which can be fired and glazed on premises, as well as quick, fun projects in air-dry clay such as animals, mandalas and ceramic beads that we?ll make into beautiful jewelry. Working with clay is fun, tactile, therapeutic, messy and very fun, whether or not the child has a lot of art-making experience.

• Cartooning: In the Cartooning class, we'll look for inspiration in lots of the popular cartooning already out there, old and new, and we'll learn a number of the basic techniques - shading, drawing facial expressions, indicating action & movement - to create our own. We'll do a good deal of pencil drawing, but will also experiment with various media - brush & ink painting, colored pencils, brush markers, etc. Finally, we?ll try our hand at animation through the making of flip-books!

• Drawing & Painting: In this Drawing & Painting class, we?ll do a wide variety of projects in which we?ll stretch the ideas of drawing and painting a bit. Each project will incorporate drawing and painting, but will stretch way beyond image-making on white paper. We?ll be doing some journaling, wordplay and story-telling, some basic sewing, some cool layered drawings using transparencies, and we?ll even make jewelry!

• Art with Pastels: In the Art With Pastels class, we will explore different ways to use pastels in drawing ? we?ll do portraits, maps, flowers, read a story or two for inspiration, then do some drawings on black paper - of monsters, outer space and the like(because pastels look really cool against black paper .). We?ll learn drawing and blending techniques, but focus a lot on places where inspiration can be found, and on COLOR and FUN.

• Ukrainian Eggs: Students will go through a step-by-step process to learn authentic Ukrainian eggs designs.

• Jewerly, Beading, Mosaics & More: Children will learn the understanding and applying media, techniques and processes. Students use art materials and tools in a safe and responsible manner to create beautiful projects using clay, tiles, shells, rocks, sea glass and findings.
  
  Mosaic Project
  Beading Project
  Jewerly Project
  

• Painting on Canvas: In this class, we will be working on both stretched canvases and canvas boards with acrylic paints, learning about color mixing, brush techniques, painting shadows and light, etc. Mostly, though, we will have FUN ? we?ll paint from photos, from our imaginations, combine painting and collage on canvas ..and have real paintings on real canvas to bring home and hang up! Don't let your child go through life without this experience of being a real artist! Dress your child appropriately for this fabulous and master artist inspiring class.

• Tie Dye & Fabric Fun: Taught by Jessica Welch - This class is a dream class for your inspiring clothing creative designer. Children will experience the joys of tie dying in the non-traditional colors. We will not only TIE dye but we will fabric dye, paint, stencil and iron on the greatest paterns and shapes... and decorate items brought from home as well as items supplied by Art 4 Children. This class is a camp favorite with a little added spice. This class will get messy, so dress your child appropriately for this class! Children will need to bring 1 item to decorate for each day the attend camp/class. Items can include any light colored T-shirt, canvas bag, bed sheets, pillow cases, jeans (anything goes but towels or sweatshirts).

• Watercolor/Drawing: Taught by beloved Phyllis Atha - Phylli's watercolor class gives blossoming artists, skills and confidence with the brush and watercolor paint. With that they go on to create beautiful expressions of color, texture and design in a way that only watercolor can give. Each art lesson, each week, has a purpose, such as: learning about the medley of colors, objects, shapes, lines and sizes in a composition; creating symmetry; experimenting with different styles; and learning about color mixing, color value, and color schemes. All the while, the young artists creative instincts will be stimulated with a variety of projects and new ways of seeing.

• Nature/Weave & Marcome: In the Nature Weave and Macrame class, we?ll learn knotting, braiding and weaving techniques to make bracelets and anklets, belts, even musical instruments from gourds! The knots and techniques are simple, but can be used to make complex-looking and stunning objects! GREAT for improving manual dexterity, very meditative, and FUN.

• Origami: In this class, we will learn the traditional art of Origami (paper-folding), and use it in a bunch of fun ways. Yes, we?ll learn traditional Japanese forms (the crane, of course!), but we?ll also make games and toys, butterflies and flowers, boats, goodie boxes, you name it. We?ll even make a colorful pond scene, and learn a fun trick where you can fold a dollar bill into a shirt!

Performing Arts:

• Drama: CREATIVE DRAMATICS/ACTING Experience the thrill and explore the challenge of live theatre. Students will develop, explore and communicate ideas and feelings through improvisational play. Classes includes improvisation, theatre games, monologues and scene study. Everything is age appropriate for the children in this class. We even do face-painting. This class is process, not performance oriented is sure to enlighten the most timid child. Memorization is a not a requirement of this class.

Language Arts:

• Spanish: Students learn basic greetings and beginning conversation skills. For example, how to order at a restaurant or market and how to tell a little about themselves. Skits in Spanish will help the students interact and converse with each other.

Creative Writing:

• Taught by Jessica Welch & certified teacher, Jenn Rubattino. This class for children who love writing with enjoy not only the joys of story-telling but story writing. Children will have the academic reinforcment of basic creative writing skills in this class. Children will work on story development, illustrations and speaking in front of a group, sharing and collaborating on ideas. This will be a super academic class to keep your children's reading, writing and spelling on task over summer.

Music:

Taught by the staff at SDMS, in particular by Scarlet who is a member of MTAC (music teacher's association of california) and she's on scholarship at UCSD's music department as a Junior. She's also worked at SDMS for four years and is teaching in conjunction with the other teachers in the music studio - all of which have degrees.

• Guitar: Students learn basic riffs from popular music such as “Smoke on the Water”. A great way to introduce your child to the instrument!
• Piano: Students learn fun duets such as “Heart and Soul” and chop-sticks! More advanced pianists may bring their regular books for extra tutoring.

• Violin: A great way to expose your child to a new instrument. Students learn proper technic for the violin though popular folk songs. Students are encouraged to play separately and with others.

Home Economics:

• Food Art: Let’s decorate some COOKIES!! Children will learn how to ‘present’ food in creative ways. We will also make creative ‘unedible’ food crafts.

• Mini Gardens: Taught by Jessica Welch & Robin Sassi. We will be creating gardens of candy, gardens of flowerbulbs, succulants and even gardens of flower pens! Children will be inspired by the outdoors to create quite a few wonderful projects. Depending on the days they attend camp, they will either create a landscape or edible art, a decorated pot that holds pens and pencils that looks like flowers or a real mini plant garden in a container. Prepare to get dirty and have lots of fun!

Academics:

• Academic Arts: Taught by Jessica Welch or Janet Wilson: This is an academic based art class that will encompass a lot of descriptions on this page. Everything from make silly putty (Science Arts) to creating abstract art (Geometry) to drawing flowers from still life (Botany) and labeling plants in an artsy way to reading stories, writing poetry and illustrating. This is a class that will teach something academic while focusing on the product of art.

• Math Action: This academic-based class will focus on the basics of mathematics. An introduction to algebra and geometry will also be covered for older children. CA certified teachers will be teaching age-approrpriate math skills in a fun way - very small group setting.

• Reading/Writing: Students will focus on vocabulary building with new words that they can work into everyday conversations to impress their friends and parents. CA certified teachers will be teaching age-appropriate reading and writing skills in a fun way - very small group setting.

Mental & Physical Arts:

• Yoga: Benefits from participation in this yoga class are astonishing! Children become more confident, clear thinking and focused. Mental concentration and physical coordination are enhanced. The poses strengthen and stretch the body. Yoga teaches flexibility of the mind and body. Staying flexible mentally by opening the mind fosters positive thinking and motivation to learn new things. In this class, students will learn Yoga by mimicking animals, playing walking games and group games; and letting off steam as well as floating on a cloud. It's a great way to start the day.

• Jazzercise: The Nations #1 dance/fitness program is at Art 4 Children! Kids will have fun dancing to their favorite music and learning all the latest dance moves. Fitness games, nutrition and learning to love exercise is emphasized in a non-competitive atmosphere. All instructors are certified through Jazzercise Inc and are experienced in getting children motivated!

• Karate/Self Defence: Bushikan Web Site: Through this fun and educational After School Karate Program, children will be learning life saving self-defense techniques partnered with increasing their awareness and focus in a public setting. Sensei Franco Sanguinetti has been a practitioner of the Martial Arts for 33 years and has taught at surrounding schools in the daycare, elementary and college level for over 18 years. His focus with the children is to teach them important self-defense techniques and also to reinforce the concepts of respect and discipline, central to the traditional Martial Arts.

• Chess: Academic Chess: The kids favorite and an Art 4 Children Inc sponsor! The kids favorite and an Art 4 Children Inc sponsor! Class will be grouped by ages/levels with two instructors-- Children will learn the strategies that have kept chess a popular game for hundreds of years. Through lessons, workbooks, and mini-tournaments, kids are given the tools they need to become "Chessmonsters", the highest level an Academic Chess student can achieve. Lessons are taught dynamically with analogies and stories to help them remember the various rules and techniques. The methods are age and level sensitive. Beginning, intermediate and advanced courses available.