Young At Art program now available

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 18, 2010 PDF:		Contact: Ruth Cavins, Executive Director Phone: 405.533.3333

Oklahoma WONDERtorium’s Young at Art program now available

Children ages zero to 12 months of age can become a part of one of Oklahoma WONDERtorium’s most innovative hands-on learning experiences – Young at Art.

Young at Art kits are available for families to check out and take home from the Stillwater Public Library and OSU Family Resource Center. Kits have also been placed at Lincoln Alternative Academy, Kids Under Construction and Early Head Start.

“Young at Art was created to introduce young children and their parents to the therapeutic and playful functions of art,” said Debbie Williams, Oklahoma WONDERtorium, Program Coordinator. “Fifteen unique activity kits including elements of visual art, dance and music are rotated through childcare facilities or can be checked out by parents to use at home.”

Young at Art uses bright colors, pictures, music, soft sounds and textures to encourage sensory integration and motor skill development.

Williams said the kits strengthen family bonds and increases an adult’s knowledge of parenting.

“The kits allow parents and caregivers to interact with the child at different developmental stages during the child’s first year,” she said. “For example, if the kits are checked out when the child is birth to 3 months, they can be checked out again for different objectives when the child is 3 months to 6 months and again at 6 months to 9 months.”

Children who are not socially or emotionally ready for school cannot form the brain connections to promote cognitive learning. Art assists children in expressing themselves before they are verbal. With Young at Art, childcare workers and parents are able to assist children toward a healthy outcome.

The Oklahoma WONDERtorium is applying new ways to extend the Museum Without Walls outreach programs to new partners. This is done without any additional cost due to the generous funding from individuals, businesses and foundations.

About Oklahoma WONDERtorium
Currently, Oklahoma WONDERtorium is a “museum without walls” and developed the educational outreach program of the same name in 2006 to further its mission of inspiring curiosity to learn through play. MWW offers four developmentally-appropriate programs for children in local childcare centers, preschool and elementary schools. Program subject matter ranges from simple activities involving brightly-colored objects, simple dance moves and music for infants and their caretakers to cutting-edge information on nanoscience principles and plant viruses for fifth graders (expanding to fourth graders in 2010). With a building site at 10th & Duck streets in Stillwater, the WONDERtorium is actively raising funds to open a permanent facility in 2012. The Oklahoma WONDERtorium is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization. Business offices are located at 1601 S. Main (Head Start Bldg.), Stillwater, Oklahoma, 74074. For more details about the museum, its programs and events, please visit www.okwondertorium.org.

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