Hatch

By 12:00pm today, we’re going to post our new winter Hatch Play kit on our website. The kit is full of loose parts to play with, arrange, connect, build, and tell stories, plus a variety of textured surfaces to imagine small worlds, animals to frolic in the snow, and 3 bricks of our favorite plasticine clay that never. dries. out. EVER. When your kid tires of playing with these parts (if they ever do!), we also include 5 art project ideas you make with basic materials from home!

If you would have asked me 8 months ago if virtual toddler classes were a good idea, I would have laughed probably- like how could we ever pull that off? Now, they’re a really important part of our work in advocating for creative early learning experiences. And our Hatch families report that the classes work! We ask ourselves WWMRD? That’s what would Mr Rogers do. Safe and secure, relaxing, inspiring, thought provoking, a moment of curiosity and wonder.. that’s what working for us right now. We pack simple but interesting materials, families supply the basics, and off we go! I love that kids are singing the Hello Hatch Friends song, creating, and playing in PA, OH, MN, RI, VT, CA, UT, CT, NY, VA and more!

Our super talented friend Meredith @homegrownfriends just released her book called Art Play with @storeypub ! The book is beautiful, engaging, and filled with great ideas! It’s like stepping into Meredith’s studio Homegrown Friends. We loved trying her polymer clay portraits from the book, but ours transformed into this super cool, smudgy, process art situation with the help of our pasta machine! So much goodness in this new book by Meredith!!!

It’s been a little quiet over here... So I’m sharing this amazing mannequin made in @jillkuhlman47 fashion class because I want to feel as energetic and vibrant as this mannequin looks... . No, but really...Jill and her fashion students have been creating an entire collection of no-sew clothing for their mannequins, assembling mood boards, and even constructing a runway! This would have been my DREAM class as a kid, I had so many notebooks of fashion sketches... Should we bring this class back this winter?!