When I started dreaming big ideas for this brand, I had a gajillion ideas. I am that person with 62 tabs open on her computer, another 34 on my phone, and another 57 in my head. I reallllly struggle with turning my thoughts off. So, to help ground my purpose and be intentional with my starting point, I posed a market research question to a group of strangers in a Facebook group. The question I asked was, “What holds you back from creating art with your kids at home?”. And the top 5 responses were:
- Mess
- Time (Plan, Prep and Clean Up)
- Ideas (Lack of Creativity, Age Appropriateness)
- Having the Right Supplies
- Investment/Interest from Kids
Sound familiar?
There were also some really great ideas about providing instructions, video options that could demonstrate the steps for the kids, and how parents actually feel about having “just another special thing” to keep. So while the latter hurts my art heart a little bit, this feedback gave me direction in designing our Art Kits.
Art Kits are boxes filled with everything, yes EVERYTHING, your kids will need to create. Each kit is based on a theme, an artist, or skill-based. All kits include supplies, instructions, a messy mat, and an artist bio when relevant. Art Kits are designed with age-appropriate skills in mind, which means there are 3-4 different options based on age bands.
Our first Art Kit launch is all about exploring the impressionist style of art with Claude Monet. There are 3 Art Kits available for different ages and abilities. Our FLAMINGO KITS are for 3-5 year olds (Preschool/Pre-K, and K depending on ability levels). The ORANGE KITS are for 6-8 year olds (Lower Elementary), and the SUNSHINE KITS are for students ages 9-12 (Upper Elementary).
This launch also includes one IMAGINATION KIT, which are reusable kits for young artists that often includes doughs and other play structures for creative arts exploration. The Monet-inspired kit has blue dough for water, cardboard lily pads, stones, QTips painted for cattails, stones, mini wooden sticks to build a bridge, and mini frogs.
Most kits are designed for a one time project, HOWEVER, you can purchase additional items for kits if you have multiple kids OR for yourself to jump in on the F-U-N in our A-LA-CARTE ART section on the site!! Or, if you have kids that really love to create, HERE is my favorite paper for drawing and painting with my own kids and in my classroom. You can grab your own pack of 100 sheets for $6.29, to continue drawing and exploring with the kit instructions.
My hope is that these kits give you+your family some quality creative time that is MORE joyful and LESS stressful.
Happy Creating!-Ally