Fall Holiday Arts Splashes

Young Players Theater Creative Arts Splashes are offered during public school closings. As parents we understand how important it is to have your children in a SAFE, NURTURING, and PLAYFUL environment on school holidays. With that in mind, we created these Creative Arts Splashes. Children are given the TIME, SPACE, RESOURCES, and GUIDANCE to SPLASH IN THE ARTS! Our team of experienced and dedicated teaching artists prepare engaging activities and imaginative games that get creative juices flowing. Children sing, dance, act, make visual art, craft, play, make new friends, take local trips, and play outdoors. We often invite GUEST ARTISTS to share their work and experiences with the children. The program is flexible allowing children to make choices based on their own interests. We know that these days off of school need to be RESTORATIVE. ARTS SPLASHES are fun, playful, and creative.

December 27-30 (Holiday Break)
January 17 (MLK Day)
February 21-25 (Mid-WInter Recess)
April 18-22; 25-26 (Spring Recess)
June 9 (Brooklyn/Queens Day)

Creative Arts Splashes are open to children in Pre-KIndergarten through 8th Grade.


Our locations:
The Church of Gethsemane
1012 8th Avenue (between 10th and 11th Street)

The Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture
53 Prospect Park West @ 2nd Street

Mission for Today
298 6th Avenue (between 2nd and 3rd Street)

Fee: $75/day (10% discount if you sign up for more than three days)
Hours: 9-3 PM with Early Drop-Off and Late Pick-Up Available

For more information please contact us directly at 718-238-8383 or kristen@yptheater.org

Here are some photos from our Election Day and Veteran's Day Splash! On Election Day we explored the myth of Pandora's Box. On Veteran's Day we shared family stories and turned them into mini-vignettes that Young Players staged and performed for each other.

Impressionism

Here are a few photos from our first two days. The theme of the week is Impressionist Art and through stories, music, theater, and art they are taking a journey back to the 19th century in France.


Looking at portraits with Ben our visual teaching artist.

The YPT ensemble!

Warming up!

Singing La Vie En Rose with Scott.

Tableau vivant!

Where's France?

Characters Come Alive

Fairy Tales

Check out what we have been up to this week...

Introductions and Warm-Ups with Ellen


Creating Images from Fairy Tales (Peter Pan)


Goldilocks and the Three Bears


Little Red Riding Hood (Final Scene)

Summertime

Beach, vacation, swimming, friends, Six Flags, Disney World, traveling, sunshine, camp, no school. When brainstorming our theme on Monday these were some of the responses. Once up on their feet, the children created frozen and moving images of the beach. This developed into a story. I will not reveal the story yet because I don't want to spoil Friday's sharing. I will say this...imaginations are running wild! It has been really interesting working with two groups this week. We have children in K/1st in one group and 2nd through 4th in another group. Quite naturally both groups have blended together seamlessly and are working collaboratively to create one performance piece. It is a very passionate group with lots of creative energy. Ellen and I have been working with them to create an ensemble. They are learning how to listen and share. They are being supportive and learning to understand each other in rehearsals and in free play.
Each week it is amazing to see the group coming together. Wednesday is usually a magical day. Things start to happen. Trust builds. Friendships form. Disagreements occur too. People reveal emotion more freely. Excitement about the sharing begins to brew. That magic happened today. It culminated in a tie dye and sprinkler extravaganza in the park. Can't wait for tomorrow!

Flying Carpet

If you had a flying carpet and could go anywhere, where would you go?
Treasure Island
Monster Land
France for Kids Only
India
Over the Rainbow
A Place Where There Was No Money and No Homework
The Caribbean

This week we have been playing with visiting and exploring these places with our 5 senses and our imagination.

Yesterday, Murat Ozcan, came in and shared the art of Shadow Theater with the children. It was magical. The children learned about how to make their shadows larger and smaller and how their gestures and movements could tell magnificent stories with shadows.

Community

We followed up our week on Friendship with a week of Community. At the Friendship Parade, children gave gifts to the Tree. They presented the Tree with flowers and plants which we then planted during our Community week. Carolynn came by on Tuesday morning and the children worked hard to prepare the tree bed for the planting. The soil was very hard and had lots of trash in it. We cut the weeds, cleaned the bed, and tilled the soil. It was tough work but it was done with great hope and enthusiasm. We even sang as we worked. We sang Friendship and Together Wherever We Go of course! Our Tree loves show tunes. And then we planted... petunias, thyme, a ba-da-bing rose (yes, that is its REAL name), and black-eyed Susans. We put down compost and mulch to give these young flowers and herbs healthy soil to grow in. Each day the children water the tree bed. When asked how planting around the tree bed builds community the responses were:
"It makes people happy because it is beautiful."
"Our garden inspired other people to go home and plant their own gardens."
"It reminds people to take care of trees and not litter or let dogs pee on them."
That's community!

Friendship

This week our theme has been Friendship. When asked what friendship is the children responded that it was a celebration, sharing, playing, love, and being kind to each other. On Friday at 2 PM we will be having a Friendship parade to celebrate!

Guest Artists

This has been a rich and lively week. The children have immersed themselves in the world of jazz. They are humming a tisket-a-tasket, talking about Charlie Parker and the Cotton Club, and "skatting" like pros. They are true improvisors. We had some wonderful guests come in to share their music with us. Pyeng Threadgill is a professional jazz artist and voice teacher. She was instrumental in bringing this week to life. She shared her passion and understanding of jazz with all of us. Carolynn Murphy also joined us this week. Carolynn is multi-faceted. She is an environmental educator and a jazz artist. She brings all of her talents to share with YPT this summer. Celia Caro is the visual teaching artist who has worked with the children this week. Chances are you have heard about Celia. The children adore her. She brings our performance work to another level by giving the children interesting materials to create art with that deepen their exploration of the theme. All of us work collaboratively and discuss the needs of the individual children and the ensemble as a whole. Our mission is the same. We want to provide the children the tools to explore, connect, discover, express, and create.

Summer Arts Program Week 3: JAZZ AND POETRY

Teaching Artist Pyeng Threadgill conducts the A-train. Children put on their fancy threads and pack a picnic lunch and head down south to Mississippi and Louisiana to listen and feel the jazz of the early 20th century. Then they make their way back to Harlem, New York City and sizzle to Charlie "Bird" Parker on his sax.





Celia, our visual artist came in and talked to us about Kandinsky and how listening to Jazz inspired him to paint. He was an improvisor. The children created art in Kandinsky's style and listened to Jazz an made art. They used crayons, creamy crayons, water to create a wash with the creamy crayons, and finally water color. It was magnificent watching them work together and create discover new way to use the materials. They listed to Thelonious Monk, Tito Puente, Herbie Hancock, and Duke Ellington. Some expressed how their moods, feelings, and rhythms changed with the different music and how this affected how they drew or painted.

Summer Arts Program

Our summer program is comprised of eleven week-long programs that allow the children to immerse themselves in a theme and explore it through theater, music, movement and dance, and visual art. You can sign up your child for as many weeks as you like. Each week is unique and will not repeat itself so your child can come for the entire summer and remain engaged!

The space is located just a block from inspiring Prospect Park. We will spend lots of time exploring, playing, and creating outdoors. The Park will always be a part in our day and children will picnic, have free play, take nature walks, and even make art outdoors each day as long as the weather permits.

We are a small, family-run program whose . staff is made up of professional teaching artists and educators. Our top priorities are to ensure the safety and well-being of each child and to make sure everyone is engaged, connected, and having fun! We want them to have a memorable summer experience.Since the group size is small, our warm and nurturing staff has the time to get to know the children and their individual needs. We like to hear what you have to share about your child and we observe and listen

to the children. We create an environment where each child feels safe and supported. We allow them the space and time to explore, connect, and make new discoveries. We understand that summer is a time to slow down from school-year routines and we consciously honor that by allowing time and space to play and smell the roses!

Over the course of the week children will create an ensemble with their peers and will collaboratively develop a short piece that is shared on Fridays at 2 PM. Parents and friends are invited to come to share and celebrate at that time!

 

Join Us for World Theater Day

Celebrate theater every day, but especially on March 27th, World Theater Day. This year YPT held the festivities at the Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture. Jon Samson of CoCreative Music led a sing-along with songs from his newly released CD. Jeri of CoCreative Faces painted lots of beautiful faces and transformed children into lions, butterflies, and superheroes (just to name a few). Scott Davis and Stephanie Wells, YPT teaching artists led family sing-alongs that got the entire crowd singing and dancing. Children and grown-ups played theater games and acted out their favorite stories. The day came to a festive close with Simba telling an African folk tale and dancing with live drumming.