For children ages 3 – 9
Overview
To further enhance your child’s learning, we offer unique enrichment classes, which offer an explosion of activities to excite the mind and engage the interest of the preschool to elementary-aged child. Whichever class you choose, your children are certain to burst forth with enthusiasm for the creative discoveries they make. These are parent-child programs, where moms and dads (and grandparents and nannies!) volunteer in the class on some days, and attend parent education once a month.
Creative Arts Lab
This is an art and creativity enrichment program. We believe art for young children is about thinking creatively, taking risks, making big decisions, changing your mind, experimenting with materials, expressing yourself, dreaming big, having fun and getting messy! We honor children’s creativity and work to develop their agency.
Children are between the ages of 2.75 and 7 years old in September. Class is online in fall 2020. When we return to in-person, class meets in our studio on the Bellevue College campus.
What will your child experience at Creative Arts Lab?
Each week we offer a new curriculum theme for the children’s program with a large variety of hands-on, experiential art and creative activities. (Check out videos of our storybook theme and our apple theme. Or look here for directions on how you can do all the apple themed art activities at home.)
For online classes (Fall 2020): Children participate in weekly online interactive sessions with their teachers, which will include songs, stories, and demonstrations of art activities. Also, the children’s teachers will plan a variety of intriguing art activities that parents can easily do at home with the children. They will share ideas and instructions via email, blog posts, or using the Seesaw app. Some materials will be provided for pickup.
In-person classes (in the future, when health guidelines allow): Children can explore painting, sculpting, drawing materials, collage, and a variety of printing techniques. We also offer block play, puzzles, math manipulatives, and imaginary play opportunities. In circle time, we read stories and sing songs, then go outside for playground time.
Check out this video from our in-person classes.
What Our Students Say About Creative Arts Lab
Thank you for a fun and wonderful year! It has been a pleasure to be in your class. We enjoyed the creative projects and being part of the supportive warm community.
Family Inventors’ Lab
This is a STE(A)M enrichment program, held on Saturdays. The curriculum is aimed at children from age 3 – 6. Children must turn three by August 31 to participate in that year’s classes. Children older than 6 are welcome to enroll. Classes are online in fall 2020, but typically meet at Robinswood Park and on the BC campus.
What will your child experience at Family Inventors’ Lab?
STE(A)M is STEM with the Arts mixed in. Our activities include: hands-on science exploration, creative experimentation, construction projects with building materials of all sorts, art activities, messy sensory play, circle time with songs and books, and outdoor time. We have three quarter-long units:
- What’s a Scientist: geology, paleontology, astronomy, physics, chemistry. (We simulate earthquakes, dig for dinosaurs, gaze at stars, test gravity, and make things go boom!)
- What’s an Engineer: simple machines, electricity, and building towers, bridges, houses, and model cars. (We build cool stuff! Then knock it down! Then build it better!)
- What’s an Inventor: We explore the life sciences, as we study the human body, animal adaptations, sea life, insects, and more. Then we talk about how humans have developed inventions and tools based on what they observe in nature.
To see all the activities we do, check out our instructor’s blog: InventorsOfTomorrow.com.
For online classes (Winter 2020): Children participate in two online circle times each week. Opening circle at 10:00 am introduces the day’s topic. Closing circle at 2:30 pm wraps up the concepts of the day. Each “circle time” will be 30 – 40 minutes, and will include songs, stories, demonstrations of art activities, and opportunities for children to share news from their week and show-and-tell their projects.
The children’s teachers also plan a variety of STE(A)M activities that parents can easily do at home with the children. Ideas and instructions are shared via blog posts. Many families choose to try out these optional activities in the time between opening and closing circle. Children can use the Seesaw app to share their work with their teachers and classmates.
Asynchronous Classes (Winter 2020): Some families choose asynchronous learning. We record every Saturday class, and make all those recordings available on Seesaw, plus guidance on how to do all the activities is available online. So parents can do the activities with their children at their convenience. Note: parents ARE required to attend the monthly parent education sessions, which are the third Saturday of each month at 1:15.
In-person classes (in the future, when health guidelines allow): Families will choose either a morning session from 10 – 12, or an afternoon session from 1:30 – 3:30 pm. Classes include several stations for trying out the day’s activities, circle time and outdoor time.
If you want to see all the activities we do in class, they’re documented on our parent educator’s blog: www.InventorsOfTomorrow.com. Or check out this video:
What Our Students Say About Family Inventors’ Lab
I love the concepts chosen, the creativity of the activities, and the time structure (including outdoors time). I love this class so much I plan to do it every year with every one of my kids. – a father who has participated for four years in a row
Discovery Science Lab – will not be held Fall 2020
This is a science enrichment program, held on Wednesdays after school. Each week, we have a new theme. We study Chemistry, Geology, Marine Biology, Astronomy and Space Travel, and our Northwest Habitat. We meet at the barn at Robinswood Park, in Bellevue near the BC campus. Once a month, we do a field trip on the Eastside, related to the current themes. Class is for ages 5 to 9. We hope to offer this class again when we return to in-person programming.
What will parents experience in our classes?
Enrichment classes are all parent-child cooperative classes, where parents and children play, learn, and grow together.
You will participate in required monthly Parent Education sessions, lasting 60 – 75 minutes. We cover topics like brain development, ways to support your child’s learning at home and at school, building children’s emotional intelligence and social skills, discipline, and managing challenging parenting situations. Parents can share experiences, offer support, build friendships, and get the parent educator’s input on current questions and concerns.
Online Classes (Fall 2020): The monthly parent education session will be online on Zoom.
In-person classes (when health guidelines allow for a return to the classroom): Parent education is held once a month, during class time. You will also be asked to work in the classroom approximately once a month. Classroom tasks include: supervising children for safety, providing and serving snacks, classroom clean-up, and, most playing along with the children. On non-work, non-parent-ed days, you can drop off your child or you are welcome to stay with them.
Visiting a Class:
To visit a class, contact the instructor to make arrangements. Typically, if space is available in a class, they will allow you and your child to join the class one time for thirty minutes to see if it’s a good fit.
Schedule for Fall 2020
For Creative Arts Lab, the weekly sessions will be on Tuesday mornings from 10:30 – 11:45, and will include child-focused activities and a parent check-in. There will be a monthly parent education session on a Tuesday evening.
Family Inventors’ Lab: Children’s online circle times will be at 10:00 am and 2:30 pm. Online Parent Ed will be held on the third Saturday of every month at 1:15 pm. We have optional parent chats every Saturday from 2 – 2:30 pm. Also, see information above about the asynchronous option. When we return to in-person – sometime after December – we will split into a morning class – item 7099 and an afternoon class – item 7093, so register now for the one which might better meet your needs in the future.
How to Register
Enrichment classes start in late September and run through May each school year. Most students attend for the full school year. Students may join mid-year, if there is space available.
To register, check the item number for your class in our chart below, then go to our online registration form to sign up.
Tuition: For fall quarter 2020 online, the total cost will be $183.88. $53.88 will be paid directly to Bellevue College through the online registration process, and $130 will be paid to your class instructor. (Note: this tuition is $65 less per quarter than an in-person quarter would be, due to reduced costs.) We do offer discounts when multiple siblings from one family attend the same class. Scholarships are available; a confidential application is made through the class instructor.
If you have questions about a class, you can click on the instructor’s name in the table below and send the instructor an email.
Viewing from a mobile device? Scroll right to see full content of the tables below.
| Class Name | Item# | Age | Online Schedule (Fall 2020) | In-Person Schedule (Future) | Contact | Availability |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Creative Arts Lab | 7091 | Age 3 by Jan. 31,2021 | T 10:30-11:45 am One Tues evening per month | T 9:45-11:45a | Kristin Nasman | Open |
| Family Inventors' Lab | 7093 | 3 - 6 years | Sat 10-10:40a and 2:30-3:00p. Parent Ed third Saturday 1:15-2:15p | Sat 1:30-3:30p | Janelle Durham | Limited |
| Family Inventors' Lab | 7099 | 3 - 6 years | Sat 10-10:40a and 2:30-3:00p. Parent Ed third Saturday 1:15-2:15p | Sat 10:00a-12:00 noon | Janelle Durham | Limited |
Last Updated December 3, 2020
