Mini Makers – encouraging tiny tots to explore their creativity

02/04/2020

Messy play is so important for a young child’s development, inspiring curiosity and providing a sensory experience enabling them to explore the world around them. It helps with the development of fine motor skills, gross motor skills, hand-eye coordination and spatial awareness.

Many Creative Minds Artists are now running Mini Makers art sessions in their local community, providing a space to nurture children’s imagination and encouraging parents to enjoy a creative experience with their children. These sessions are aimed at pre-schoolers who are encouraged to explore a wide range of materials in a playful and experimental way.

CM Artist Grace based in Wiltshire, ran a weekly session throughout 2019 at West Wilts Vineyard Church. These proved to be a huge hit, and some weeks saw over 40 attendees!

Grace ran a different theme each week, some of which included; the colours of the rainbow, under-the-sea, on the farm and outer space. She set the room up with different areas for little ones to explore, incorporating a variety of sensory objects and creative materials.

mini makers
mini makers

After attending one of Grace’s sessions, one mum messaged the following day with; “Oh my word. The creative group yesterday blew my mind with how amazing it was! Thank you Grace – such a rich and sensory experience for our little ones.”

Meanwhile over in Cambridge CM Artist Laura has formed a partnership with a local soft play centre, where pre-schoolers can gain access to the centre, and then join her for a creative session. Each week she brings along different creative materials for the toddlers to enjoy, so they can create a piece of art to take home.

mini makers
mini makers
The toy car wheels and tractors were a huge hit!
mini makers
Paint blowing over stencils was another popular technique that the Mini Makers loved exploring.
mini makers

At Creative Minds we provide full support and training to artists who are keen to bring Mini Makers sessions to their local community.

If you want to find out about our franchise opportunity and how you can earn an income delivering Mini Maker sessions near you click here.

“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once you grow up!”Pablo Picasso

A Day In The Life of Creative Minds Artist: Laura Novak

06/25/2019

When did you join Creative Minds?
October 2018

What attracted you most to the franchise opportunity?
The opportunity to combine my love for helping people with my love for art, all in the time my children would be at school.

Tell us what you’ve been up to today…
Today I have been running my Mini Makers art session at the Whale of a Time Soft Play in Bar Hill, Cambridgeshire. They have a perfect party room that runs along side the soft play, decorated with a fun mural. The children can come to me and go crazy with all my art materials, having lots of fun and parents don’t need to do any tidying up! I always set up paints, stickers, pastels and bring a various amount of tools to paint with. The most popular being wheels to roll with, mixed with glitter! Each week I will also bring new ideas and mediums to experiment with.

creative minds artist
creative minds artist

I absolutely love drawing animations so I often ask the little ones who their favourite character is and we draw it together, they can then experiment with different mediums to finish off their artwork! I encourage mixing up the colours, playing around with lots of mediums and just generally having lots of fun!

creative minds artist

How do you fit work around your two young boys and busy family life?
Being a Creative Minds Artist fits really well around family life. I am still able to do every school run, which I want to do while my children are young. Being mummy is and will always be my most important role in life. I plan my art sessions in advance and prepare anything that needs doing before the session either in the evening or a day I’ll have at home for administration and playing with my equipment.

What inspires the themes that you run in your art sessions?
It could be the time of year with what season it is, or if it’s Christmas etc. We have a wonderful Creative Minds network, where the artists share their art sessions and ideas. This is very inspiring. I also ask the participants if there is anything they would like to try in the next session.

What do you like best about being a Creative Minds Artist?
Seeing the joy and happiness on participant’s faces during an art session. It’s the most rewarding feeling in the world!

Read ‘Day in the Life of Creative Minds Artist: Sarah Bryant’ here: http://159.65.94.31/creative-minds-artist-sarah-bryant/

Mini Makers – Tiny Tots Get Creative in Kent!

11/20/2018

Our CM Artist Rhiannon, based in Kent, held her first parent-toddler ‘Mini Makers’ art session recently. As a mum of a two-year old herself, she found a lot of the toddler activities in her area rather dull, and mostly music orientated. So she took it upon herself to set up her own creative parent-toddler art session.

The children were aged from just 10 months to 3 years, and their task was to decorate their own paper crown. She displayed an example of what she wanted them to make, then gave them each a pallet of paint and a bowl with sequins, glitter, paper shapes and glue. She put on some music, and let the fun commence.

mini makers

The children loved the sensory experience and really got stuck in, exploring the different artistic materials, how they felt to touch and the effects they made. They had a great time getting messy with acrylic paints, and layering the shapes to decorate their crowns. They then added some sparkle to their creations with sequins and glitter. The parents loved seeing their children’s reaction to the range of different materials on offer and witnessing their children’s process of discovery through the creative session.

mini makers mini makersmini makers

All the children were thrilled with the end results and proudly paraded around the garden with their crowns on after!

Parents often need a bit of encouragement when it comes to letting their little ones go wild and get messy with creative play. However, after the session the parents said they loved the opportunity to be creative with their children and not to worry too much about the mess they make. It made for a wonderful bonding activity and the toddlers certainly enjoyed themselves too!

We hope to deliver more ‘Mini Makers’ art sessions very soon!