Start With The Arts

“But I’m not creative!” ... “What about the mess?” ... “I’ve been doing arts activities for years and I can’t think of anything new.”

Start With The Arts is a program with ideas for you! If you know home child care, you know it’s a demanding job with long hours and lots of challenges. Sometimes it can feel pretty isolating. VSA Arts of Vermont brings a warm, creative Start With The Arts instructor for one-hour lessons once a week for 12 weeks to 48 home child care sites each year, representing every county of Vermont.

Our instructors present great children’s books and exciting activities to help children of all abilities relate to stories with projects in drama, music, dance and visual arts. Children learn to love books because they can bring the stories to life. They gain confidence in skills they’ll need in preschool and kindergarten and a love of creative expression that will stay with them for life. Child care providers get new ideas for inclusive arts and literacy activities that make sense for home child care settings. Plus they get a whole year’s credit toward their required Core Competencies in Teaching and Learning. Every site gets free books and art supplies to keep. There’s no cost for this program to child care providers or parents.

Start With The Arts partners with the Franklin Grand Isle Bookmobile to combine services during the summer months. For more information, contact Peggy Rainville, Start With The Arts Program Director, at (802) 655-7735 or at swta@vsavt.org.

Recent Examples

At recent Start With The Arts sites, child care providers described their experiences this way:

"The thing I learned is, you can just sit and read a book, but when you add in activities it really makes it interesting. The whole experience makes me feel like now I can do something like that."
Lois Raiche, child care provider, Alburg
Peggy Rainville, VSA Instructor

"I have two 1-year olds and we actually let them use the paints too. And then to have an art show at the Winooski Library was a terrific ending. It was wonderful to have all the parents’ kids there and they were all so proud. The whole experience was so active and friendly."
Laura Butler, child care provider, Milton
Peter Burns, VSA Instructor

"It’s a wonderful program. I absolutely love it. The kids can sit now and listen to a story and stay with an activity afterward. I had never thought to do that with kids this young. But now I see it’s easy."
Anneka Bickford, child care provider, Lyndonville
Jen McKenzie, VSA Instructor

"The kids get so much more from the books now than just words. They get to use their own imaginations. When the parents come in and see that, it's wonderful."
Bonnie Abare, child care provider, Barre
Elizabeth Wilcox, VSA Instructor