Category: Preschool Workshops

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Preschool Workshops

MCBA offers select book arts workshops for preschoolers, ages 2–6, and their adult caregivers. In these workshops, preschoolers grow their interest in books and visual arts and feel pride as they engage in artmaking in a book arts studio regularly accessed by working artists. Ellen Ferrari leads these workshops and designed the curriculum to meet preschoolers where they are both developmentally and with their interests in mind.

In printing workshops, preschoolers learn the basics of object and relief printing, work with tools like brayers and barens, and build fine motor skills using stamps and inking blocks. Bookmaking workshops introduce preschoolers to the parts of a book, tools like bone folders and glue sticks, and help preschoolers build fine motor skills by folding basic preschool book structures.

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Printing for Preschoolers: Let’s Go Fishing

with Ellen Ferrari
Saturday, July 1; 10am–12pm CT

Catch a reading of Kevin Sherry’s I’m the Biggest Thing in the Ocean. Print a lake with fish stamps and cookie cutters. Create creatures with letters F-I-S-H, etc. Safely make a series of cuts in a printing block to create a big ocean image and print with brayers and barens. Use a roller stamp for schools of fish. Last, try gyotaku, Japanese fish printing (with a rubber fish).

In this in-person workshop, preschoolers learn the basics of object and relief printing, work with tools like brayers and barens, and build fine motor skills using stamps and inking blocks. They also grow their interest in books and visual arts and feel pride as they engage in artmaking in a book arts studio regularly accessed by working artists. Ellen designed this workshop to meet preschoolers where they are both developmentally and in their interests. Continue reading “Printing for Preschoolers: Let’s Go Fishing”

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Bookmaking for Preschoolers: Picnic Books!

with Ellen Ferrari
Saturday, August 12; 10am–12pm CT

Fill up on The Beastly Feast by Bruce Goldstone and a basket of other picnic books! First, make a book with a paper plate and plastic flatware, called a “stick book.” Then, make a book designed to look like a basket, featuring a simple sewing technique called the “whip stitch,” and fill the basket-book with fruits and veggies. Learn how to make a book from a folded piece of paper, called an “M-fold,” designed to look like a hamburger or hot dog with unexpected picnic guests (hint: think creepy crawlies!). For dessert, make a pie book featuring a “donut fold” that gets housed in a take-home container. 

In this in-person workshop, preschoolers learn the parts of a book, work with tools like bone folders and glue sticks, and build fine motor skills by folding basic preschool book structures. They also grow their interest in books and visual arts and feel pride as they engage in artmaking in a book arts studio regularly accessed by working artists. Ellen designed this workshop to meet preschoolers where they are both developmentally and in their interests. Continue reading “Bookmaking for Preschoolers: Picnic Books!”