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The Family Art Night Planning Guide

By Carolyn Holm, author of Everyday Art for Kids

A Family Art Night event is a wonderful way to get families involved in supporting art. You can organize one for your school, your church, or your community center. Homeschoolers can organize one for their network. Older scouts can plan and host one for younger scouts. And once you get it started, make it an annual event!

At these events, children and their families come to explore all kinds of art activities together. They move freely from activity to activity, where there are volunteers to get them started and to keep materials supplied. Everyone has a wonderful time - the kids, their parents, and the volunteers too!

How to get one started? It just needs someone who is willing to get the ball rolling - a parent, a teacher, a principal, anyone who cares about getting kids involved with art.

Getting Started

First things first - you'll want to plan a date. If you are planning this event for your school, go over the school calendar keeping in mind that you'll want to pick a time that does not compete with other major events. For example, a school-wide science fair or music festival will divert familiy participation, and an important school fundraiser will drain your volunteer pool. Also keep in mind that you'll want to allow plenty of lead time, not only to organize things but to promote the idea. Give yourself a couple of months to get the word out and organize your first event.

Organizing the Event

You'll find that setting up a binder right from the start will make it much easier to organize this event. You'll want to include tabs for:

• General Information (Put this guideline here)
  
• Volunteers (In addition to their assignments, be sure to include their phone numbers and addresses)
  
• Projects (In addition to your project list, keep supply lists and how-to's here)
  
• Publicity (This will include copies of fliers and press releases, as well as media contact names and addresses)
  
• Fundraising (Include names and donations of raffle donors, and specifics of fundraising activities)
  
• Future Planning (Keep notes on what you want to do differently next year, and what you want to add)
  

Soliciting Volunteers

You'll want to spread out the work as much as you can of course, but this will get easier after the first time you put on this event; everyone will know what it is, and there will be a lot of enthusiasm for it.

The best people to recruit parent volunteers are other parents. And the place to start is with all your friends. The next place to find volunteers is with people you know who are already active volunteers. Remember, these busy people are organized people, and can usually be counted upon to fit in one more task, especially when you point out that it's for one evening only. Finally, there's a third source of volunteers - when you "call in your chips". Did you come through with a dessert at the last minute for the Teacher's Appreciation luncheon? Aha, go right to that organizer and solicit her help. Chances are good you'll get it.

Finally, a special source of volunteer help comes from the kids themselves. Fifth and sixth graders, for instance, are eager to take part in the Clean-up Crew.

And here's a bit of recruiting advice. When you enlist someone, don't approach with a vague question such as "Can you help with Family Art Night?" Instead, ask for help with a specific activity, such as "I need someone who can pick up some supplies for Family Art Night. Can you help me with this?" Don't hesitate to make the request a compliment, as in "I need someone to help with the collage table, and I thought of you - you'd be perfect!" Put this way your request will seldom be turned down. You'll notice, though, that your non-artist friends are likely to step back in wide-eyed alarm at the suggestion, so you'll have to quickly add "Oh, you won't have to do any art yourself - just keep the collage materials tidy and replenished." People need to be assured that this has nothing to do with their art ability. So just remind your volunteers that they are needed to make the event happen, but it's the participants who will be the artists. The volunteers who help with the activities are there to get people started on the activity, to keep materials clean and in order, and to keep kids from getting rambunctious.

When you are planning your volunteers, try to spread out the work as much as possible. If you do not delegate this way, you, the coordinator, will end up doing everything. Aim for filling the following "job descriptions":

• Event Chair to coordinate the event. Keep in mind that two can share this job.

• Publicity to make fliers, posters, and get the event mentioned in the next newsletter, and the local newspaper too if that is appropriate.

• Set Up / Clean Up Coordinator to organize setup and cleanup, and to supervise a crew of older kids to help.

• Fundraising Coordinator to handle the fundraising activity. If you have a raffle this includes soliciting donations, and if you do a "Make-a-Plate" activity, this includes ordering materials beforehand, running the activity during the event, and processing the orders after the event. (More on this later.)

• Supplies Coordinator to work with the various activity coordinators to make necessary purchases.

• Activity Volunteers to work at each table. You should plan on at least two per activity, and you may find you need as many as four on some activities (especially those that are difficult for younger children, who will need more help.) If you do not have enough volunteers to fully man an activity, you'll probably want to drop the activity. It is better to have fewer projects that run smoothly than to have participants turned off by messy materials and long lines for help. You can always increase the number projects next year. You want your first year to be a ringing success.

After your successful first year, you may want to expand this "job description" list to include people who can help you coordinate the activities. You may want to break them down as follows:

• Painting Projects Coordinator to plan and oversee all the projects using paints

• Collage Projects Coordinator to plan and oversee all projects using collage

• Other Projects Coordinator for everything else

Once you have a volunteer, you should be able to count on that person to come back to help the following year. In fact, as an incentive, you can offer returning volunteers first pick of activities. When you start planning your second annual Family Art Night, you may want to send out a postcard to each returning volunteer, to remind them that you are counting on their help. This will act as a reminder, and will give them an opportunity to contact you if they cannot help that year.

Finally, be sure to plan a mandatory orientation meeting for all volunteers prior to the event. This will be your opportunity to get everyone involved, get their input, and go over the plan and the rules.

Planning the Projects

One of the things you'll want to keep in mind is that you are setting an example to, and even educating, families about doing art with their children. It is very important that your projects be appropriate and creative. You do not want "coloring book" projects that do not use any creativity. You want to encourage exploration. You want open-ended projects.

However, there is an exception to this rule: projects that teach a specific skill. Origami and calligraphy are good examples. These need to be taught as a step-by-step process - they are not an open art exploration. But once learned they are wonderful artistic "tools" and fun to know. If you are fortunate enough to have parents who can teach these or similar projects, you should take advantage of them and include them.

Another step-by-step project that kids love is yarn dolls. If you have a Brownie Girl Scout leader among your parents, tap her to lead a yarn doll activity (it's in the Brownie handbook). Then after the doll is made, kids can use fabric scraps and their wild imaginations to dress them.

• Sponge Stamp Printing.
  Use paper plates to hold the paint, and just discard them at the end of the evening for easy cleanup.
  
  Tip: You will want to have a rule that kids are not allowed to paint their hands and make hand prints. They will inevitably want to do this, and yes, it's creative, but suggest they save that for art at home, because the next step will be paint all over the next child, all over the table, on the brush handles, you name it.

• Styrofoam Block Printing.

• Junk Sculpture.
  The difficulty with junk sculpture is that nothing beats a glue gun for an effective adhesive. But you will want an iron-clad safety rule that kids are NOT to use glue-guns. Even if they use them at home. Kids get careless in such an exciting group environment. So one solution is to have the volunteers who man this activity each have a glue-gun. And make sure you have at least four volunteers at this table, because it will be popular.

• Styrofoam Sculpture
  Forget glue to make these sculptures - you don't have time for it to dry. Use bamboo cooking skewers and toothpicks to attach pieces of styrofoam. If you have enough volunteers on this table, you could assign one of them a low temperature glue gun (a high temperature gun will melt the styrofoam) who can take the finished pieces and reinforce the connections with the gun. Then have the kids take them to the free paint and draw table to paint them with temperas - they'll look terrific!
  
  Tip: You'll need to put the word out far in advance to collect styrofoam from people. Then cut it into pieces using a hot knife or wire. If you are using a knife, use something you can throw away. If you are using wire, wrap the ends with tape so it won't be too hot to handle. Then hold the knife blade or wire in a flame - use your gas stove - and it will slide right through the styrofoam. You can make straight cuts or interesting curvy shapes.

• Juice Lid Collage Magnets
  It is much easier if the magnets have been attached to the lids prior to the event, so you don't need a volunteer dedicated to this task during the event. Use a hot glue gun to attach the magnets. This project can also be done with clothes pins (page 133).

• Paper Plate Rattle and Tube Rattle
  The paper plate rattles are like tamabourines with beans inside of them. Collage them to decorate them. Crepe paper streamers are a nice touch.

• Paper Plate Masks

• Clothes Pin Dolls

• Paper Bag Puppets

• Paper Weaving
  Don't limit yourself to solid color papers on this project - use magazine pages, gift wrap, wall paper, and calendar pages for beautiful results. Advise kids to start out working small, with a base paper about 5" x 7". Have a stack of black construction paper to back the finished work - the results are worth taking home for framing!

• Paper Beads

• "Free" Paint and Draw

• Collage Area
  You may find you want to have a collage area that serves all of the collage projects. For example, a tube may be filled with beans at the rattle table, and then brought to the collage station for decoration. Likewise a magnet or paper plate mask is brought to the same central area for collage. This is instead of having separate collage supplies at each of these stations. Having a common collage area has worked very well in Family Art Night events. To assure its success, allow plenty of room, and designate one table for materials ONLY. Have several other tables available for gluing. This way you won't get glue on the paper supplies. You'll need alert volunteers to make sure kids pick up their supplies from the materials table and then bring it to a work table. Otherwise they will inevitably set up shop at the materials table (it doesn't take long for fresh materials to get ruined when that happens.)

  You may also want to have a Painting Area, that serves all the projects, just as you have a Collage Area. This could be incorporated into the Free Paint and Draw activity.

  When you are organizing your projects, keep in mind that you want messy projects like painting as near to a sink as possible. As these events are usually in a school auditorium or community hall, this generally means they should be placed closest to the kitchen facilities.

  The Entrance Table

  You may want a sign-in sheet so that you have an idea of how many people have attended. An incentive for people to sign in is to have a door prize. The door prize can be a free "Make-A-Plate" or it can be something donated for the occasion. An easy way to tie in the sign-in sheet with the door prize is to make a pre-numbered sign-in sheet, with a place to indicate the number of adults and kids in the family signing in. Also print out a sheet of numbers. As each family signs in, have the entrance table volunteer cut out the corresponding number and drop it into a can. Later hold a drawing for the door prize. When the winning number is called out, look it up on the sign-in sheet to see who the winner is.

  Set-Up and Clean-Up

  The set-up will need planning. If this is to be held in your Multi-Purpose Room or Community Hall, you will want to discuss table arrangements with the janitors. You'll want to plan the table layout for maximum cireculation around each one.

  Cover all tables with butcher paper. This can be done ahead of time, when the tables are set up, or it can be the responsibility of the team for each table.

  A good way to organize and distribute supplies is to have all the materials for each activity packed in a separate cardboard box. Label the box with its activity. Then the box can be set out on the table so it is there when the team arrives to set up their table. During the evening the box can be kept under the table, and then at the end of the evening, the tools and materials can be put back into the box (unless they require clean-up).

  Clean-up needs planning too. Everyone will mean well, but they will evaporate leaving you with the mess if you don't have a team with a plan ready. This is a great place for using a Kids Clean-Up Crew. Have some of the kids go around to each table with a garbage bag to collect garbage (and if you recycle, another to collect waste paper). Assign one or two kids to carry a bucket around to collect paint and glue brushes and containers. These can all be cleaned together by one or two volunteers. Assign another two or three kids to man the brooms. Some should go around with sponges to make sure any paint on tables or floor is cleaned up.

  Getting Supplies

  You'll notice that many of these supplies are recycled. Put the word out to collect what you need - styrofoam, collage materials (buttons, ribbons, gift wrap, calendars), toilet paper tubes, juice lids, yarn for yarn dolls, and assorted "junk" for junk sculpture. Designate a collection point - usually a large box marked with a sign, and designate a collection duration, usually a week or two.

  There will still be other supplies that you'll need to buy or get donated by local merchants. If you need to buy art supplies, and you prefer the convenience of mail order, we recommend Dick Blick for low prices and good selection. You'll find a link to Dick Blick at the Carolyn Holm website at www.carolynholm.us.

  There are two ways to handle getting supplies. One is to have someone from each activity handle the supplies for that activity, and turn in their receipts. Another way is to have one person handle all purchases. The advantage of the first is that it makes it easier for the person organizing the event if there are not a lot of volunteers. This is especially true the first year, when the event organizer is also likely to be the supplies coordinator! However, there are disadvantages of doing it this way. One is that it makes recruiting volunteers more difficult, especially the first time around, because you are asking more of them. Another is that you are having to rely upon a lot of people to come through with their supplies, and odds are, people being people, that there will be at least one or two who fail to come through. Finally, many activities have overlapping supplies lists, and you probably can get better prices by consolidating.

  Start out by making a detailed supply list for each project. Don't forget to include pens for the front desk and the Make-A-Plate table (for order forms), and sponges for cleanup. Then make up your purchasing lists by source. Some things will be available in local chain stores and some you'll need to get from an art supply store (or Dick Blick).

  Raising Funds for Art Supplies

  Unless your school has a generous art supply budget, you'll have to plan on raising funds to pay for the event's supplies. You can probably come up with fun and creative fund-raisers, but meanwhile there is a surefire way that ties in beautifully with the event - a Make-A-Plate activity.

  In this activity a child (or adult) draws his plate design on special round paper, using special markers, both provided in a start-up kit by the manufacturer. The artwork is later sent to the manufacturer who turns it into a one-of-a-kind melamine plate. The plate can be used for serving food (it is dishwasher safe, but keep it out of the microwave) or it can be mounted on the wall.

  These are an easy sell - the children love to make them, and they are great gifts for holiday time and for Mother's and Father's Day. Of course, grandparents love them too. Some parents like to make plates too, sometimes making a special birthday plate, or a cookie plate. You can price them very reasonably, to make them even more attractive. They usually run about $15 to $20 is purchased retail.

  You first buy the start-up kit - a package of 50 sheets of the round paper and the special markers, for only a few dollars. Then after the event, when you send in the artwork, you pay for each plate, again for only a few dollars each. So, for example, if your cost per plate is $3.50 (be sure to verify the current price when you set your prices) and you sell the plates for $6.00 each, you make $2.50 for each plate made. Fifty plates will net you $125.00 which will buy a lot of supplies if you are thrifty and use as much recycled stuff as possible!

  You will need to prepare order forms so that when the plates are purchased at your event you have a record of each one and who made it. Collect the payment at the time they place the order, not when you deliver the plates. On the order form you must have a space to describe the artwork. This is because the description is all you'll have to go on when the plates come back from the manufacturer. All you'll have is a stack of finished plates and a stack of order forms. To match them you'll need as much specific information as possible. "Rainbow" is simply not specific enough. Do you know how many little girls draw rainbows? A more specific, and useful, description is "Rainbow with blue hearts, on green background, with yellow rim".

  Tip: Go over each form before you send in the order, comparing it to the artwork, and adding any helpful specifics to the description. This will save you headaches when the order comes back.

  Have a distribution system planned. The finished plates can be distributed to classrooms, or held at a pick-up point. Whatever it is, make this clear at the event so people know how they will get their plates.

  Volunteers who are working on this table will need to know that preliminary pencil sketches are not a good idea with this process - they make the art look terrible. Also, the art should not go all the way to the edge of the circle. In fact, when you get people started on their plate, tell them to leave a 1/2" margin all the way around. This will save on tears later, when a name written on the edge is cut off.

  If you hold this fund-raiser at each Family Art Night, you will find that it keeps growing in popularity. You may want to hold it at another event (such as a school picnic) prior to your first Family Art Night, to raise the starting funds. Otherwise you will need to borrow the funds from a source such as your PTA and pay them back after the first event raises funds.

  A reliable manufacturer that we have had personal experience with is:
  

  Makeit Products
  PO Box 769100
  Dallas, Texas 75376
  1-800-248-9443
  www.makit.com

  Getting the Word Out: Publicity

  You will want to plan a schedule of fliers and posters, starting weeks before the event. If this is at your school, recruit the teachers to talk it up in their classes to generate interest. If you want to invite the general public to your Family Art Night, send information to your local newspaper. Don't wait until the last minute to do this! Send them the information as soon as you have a date for the event. With your write-up of the event, you should include your name and phone number as a contact for answering questions and providing further information.

  And finally...

  When it's all over, do send thank you notes to the volunteers who made this successful event possible. You'll need their help again next year, and a thank you now will go a long way to encourage their return!

     

  This Family Art Night Planning Guide was written by Carolyn Holm, art teacher, writer, and parent, who initiated and organized an ongoing annual Family Art Night in her daughter's elementary public school. She is an artist, art teacher, and the author of the award winning book, Everyday Art for Kids, Projects to Unlock Creativity.

  Thank you so much for helping to make art an everyday thing for our children!
  
  

  Copyright Carolyn Holm 1999-2005
  Mockingbird Press
  PO Box 331
  El Cerrito, CA 94530
  www.everydayart.com
  

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