Breakfast Club Blog
The BOOST Breakfast Club Blog is a curated space where bloggers from around the world contribute content on a continual basis about a variety of topics relevant to in and out-of-school time. The BOOST Breakfast Club blog is at the heart of an ongoing dialogue where expanded learning and education professionals share their personal thoughts and stories from the in and out-of-school time field. They also tell us what they ate for breakfast!
The BOOST Breakfast Club Blog is Brain Food for In and Out-of-School Time Leaders!
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Mic Drop! Celebrating Creative Youth Development
One of my favorite parts of youth development and out-of-school time programs is when we provide spaces for students to CREATE. If anything, this past year and a half has unearthed the importance of providing healing spaces and room for self-expression. As youth development professionals, we can’t turn away from the fact that our students (and us!) have individually and collectively faced grief, turmoil, anger, confusion, depression, anxiety, and loneliness. Take that in for a minute. It’s heavy...Read More
Processing Social Issues Through Art-Making
This piece originally appeared on the Breakfast Club Blog on January 23, 2015. The news is often overwhelming with images of violence, objectification, and families left stunned and mourning over great loss. The need for social justice is not new. But to high school students who are just coming to understand the repetitive nature of the news…and just how nasty things in this world can be…it is new. It seems that at this tender age, high school students are beginning to identify what ...Read More
8 Art Activities to Encourage Wellness: At-Home Edition
Healthier Generation’s social-emotional health expert, Elizabeth Cook, recently gave me a book called Teacher’s Guide to Resiliency through the Arts. The book explores how creative arts can encourage well-being for children (and adults) experiencing adversity. Here’s one of my favorite quotes: Arts activities that include touch, pleasant smells, visualizations, movement, and/or pleasant sounds all work to soothe the body and restore equilibrium in the brain for rational decision-making. If you’r...Read More
Messy Art & The Power of Sensory Play
There’s nothing like MESSY ART to kick off a powerful new year. Most kids love to get messy and “let go” of their inhibition with colorful paints and clays. But let’s admit it, most kids can’t too messy at home. So it’s our job and our OPPORTUNITY to give them plenty of messy art experiences in afterschool enrichment. Where else will they experience the pleasure and power of visual art? Remember that art experiences have a proven positive impact on young peopl...Read More
Valuing Children’s Artwork
“Mommy, my art is in the trash!” said 4-year-old Noah with shock and dismay. This is how Board Supervisor, Janice Rutherford, opened her keynote speech to a large group of educators. She held up her son’s paper plate painting and told us how distressed he was when he found it in the trashcan at home. How could this have happened? Surely it must be a mistake because who would throw away original artwork? I was completely amused by her poignant message as this Education Board Mem...Read More