Creative Explorers
early years arts & wellbeing
Collaborate with Verena, our experienced artist, arts facilitator and early years consultant to support your organisation in providing creative outcomes for the children in your community.
About
Creative Explorers is an early-years arts and well-being initiative designed to support children, their educators and community. We allow for exploration and growth through creative experiences and opportunities that can enhance engagement, development and overall well-being.
Creative Explorers seeks to address the developmental needs of the whole child, through arts- based engagement while also supporting organisations in fostering a culture of creativity, innovation and connection, with the potential to create lasting positive impacts on individuals and communities alike.
Our Services
Projects & Experiences
We facilitate multi-arts projects and experiences for children and their educators, whilst supporting relevant curriculum and organizational outcomes. By facilitating joyful creative experiences, we seek to foster engagement, connection and overall well-being among participants. For children, it's an opportunity to explore their creativity in a supportive environment, promoting holistic development. For educators, it offers opportunities to observe and engage while providing a framework for integrating arts into early childhood education, enhancing their teaching practices and relationship- building with children.
Professional Development
Our Creative based workshops are customized to provide your educational staff with inspiration, tools and insights to assist them to enhance their practice with children through creative pedagogy. This not only enriches the learning experiences of children but also enhances educators satisfaction and professional growth. Additionally, by emphasizing enjoyment in creative practice, these
workshops promote a positive mindset towards art and creative expression and their benefits, which educators can share with the children they engage and their community.
Creative Consultation
Collaborating with cultural, educational and community organizations who engage with early years children, allows Creative Explorers to extend its impact beyond individual sessions or workshops. By working together with these partners, the initiative can help to envision and create child-friendly spaces and opportunities that promote creative engagement and well-being. This collaborative approach ensures that the initiative is embedded within the broader community, seeking to work with partners to support more widespread benefits for children and families.
We draw upon creative processes from across the arts, allowing for dynamic, hands-on experiences that can grow confident, curious and imaginative thinkers. Through process lead; inquiry based or guided art experiences we nurture playful, exploratory, collaborative and innovative ways of thinking and communicating that can support children to expand their knowledge and experience of the world in joyful ways.
Our Approach
Visual Arts
Children have the opportunity to experience various visual art materials and techniques while investigating topics and ideas of interest. From process art experiences to project and inquiry based experiences children grow confidence, connections and build new skills. Alongside this children become more familiar with various artists, illustrators and authors and ways they can capture and share their own stories, experiences and emotions using art techniques such as drawing, painting, installation, photography, mixed media, collage, printing and more.
Dramatic Play, Storytelling & Performing
Through enrolling in imaginative and dramatic play children explore creative ways to express themselves through play, storytelling, theatre games, puppetry, performing, singing and movement. These sessions support children to express themselves, grow their confidence, imagination, social and emotional skills in supportive, fun and collaborative ways.
Nature, Movement & Well-being
Connecting with nature is a wonderful way to inspire creativity and enhance greater well-being in our bodies and minds. Through these sessions children are encouraged and supported to respond to their natural environments while connecting with their senses and each other in playful and creative ways. These sessions help to explore ways to connect with nature to help regulate emotions, open our senses, connect with our breath and bodies. This allows for opportunities to observe the different patterns, colours, textures and rhythms of our inner environment.
Investigating & Exploring
Working creatively is a wonderful way for children and their grown ups to learn about the world around them. Through inquiry and exploration children can research and discover their interests as they extend on their existing knowledge and ideas. This approach is an important part of the Creative Explorers experience and helps to provide children with opportunities to grow their interests, share their observations and reflect on their discoveries while deepening their connections.
Projects & Community Engagement
We love to facilitate projects and creative community outcomes with children and their grown ups. This may include anything from playful interactive installations, group facilitation, performances, poster designs for special events, children as project consultants, art exhibitions, picture book projects with children's illustrations and words, interviews with children capturing their voices and ideas. The possibilities are endless. Talk to Verena to find out how she can support you in your engagement with children and families.