What is Wee Little Arts?
Wee Little Arts is a groundbreaking preschool visual arts program dedicated to engaging and empowering children by helping them discover the creative process. The program is an all-inclusive step-by-step method for developing young minds using a variety of artistic media and educational tools.
What is the history of Wee Little Arts?
Melissa Bradshaw, an experienced elementary schoolteacher with a degree in Art Education, developed Wee Little Arts in response to a need she saw as a teacher for early childhood art education. Melissa realized that the students in her elementary school classrooms had been underserved in the development of the fine motor skills, spatial skills and creativity that early art education encourages. The Wee Little Arts curriculum has been taught to thousands of children over the last nine years, consistently generating praise from parents and school directors.
How do children benefit from Wee Little Arts?
Teaching children to understand and apply the creative process is an essential tool in unlocking their potential as students and individuals. As local school districts struggle to fund and maintain arts education programs, Wee Little Arts offers specialized services that bridge the gap. The program offers an exciting alternative for families that understand the importance of art in early education.
Children are naturally creative and flourish best in a supportive environment that celebrates creativity. Wee Little Arts classes engage each child’s unique artistic vision, building confidence and self-esteem. The program empowers students to apply critical thinking skills in other areas of study, accelerating the learning process in music, math, literature, social studies and more.
In addition to developing fine motor skills through artistic creation, the Wee Little Arts program also imparts to children an understanding of their cultural heritage through the art history and children’s literature components.
How is the Wee Little Arts curriculum structured?
Four eight-week sessions are offered: Elements of Art, Drawing, Painting and Three Dimensions. The various sessions build upon each other, ensuring continuous skill development throughout the program. Children will engage with the works of other artists, from recognized masters to contemporary artists, and create their own masterpieces. Lessons are further enriched by the use of children’s literature about art and art history. Our curriculum was written for the inclusion of children with disabilities.
The Wee Little Arts approach has been in use for nearly a decade and offers a demonstrated track record of enhanced student performance and academic achievement. The curriculum has been rigorously tested to ensure the highest academic standards.
What kind of response does the program generate from students? Parents? School directors?
Children love exercising their creativity through Wee Little Arts, are excited about the art they produce and enjoy the Wee Little Arts experience. The program is based upon the belief that all children are naturally creative and our results demonstrate the truth of this belief. Parents are consistently amazed at the quality of work that their child is able to produce as a result of the Wee Little Arts program.
Unlike many art programs for children, with Wee Little Arts children are not simply playing with art supplies. The curriculum is a holistic one and each session builds upon principles learned in earlier lessons. Parents and school directors often praise this aspect of the Wee Little Arts program.
To see what parents and school directors have to say about Wee Little Arts in their own words, click here.
