Illustrator Val Lawton is available to read from her latest book, "Emily's Magical Journey with Toothena the Tooth Fairy," to groups of children. Best suited for children ages 3 - 8.

The artist works with kids either over a few sessions, or a few hours, to create miniature illustrated booklets, fondly known as book dummies. Val discusses the illustration process from start to finish using examples from her own books, and places special emphasis on the critical aspect of maintaining character consistency throughout the book.

This workshop also highlights the collaborative nature of text and pictures, the basic concepts of layout vis-a-vis maintaining a readers' interest, and story-flow and pacing.

Students are asked to come to this workshop with a pre-written story (original or borrowed), allowing them to jump right into the book-dummy creation process.

Hands on Workshops for grade k- 6 - exploring art of all kinds! see www.creativekidsmuseum.com for details

Grade 4

Shadow Puppet Production

This workshop provides students with an opportunity to make shadow puppets, script write and produce a play . While working as a team students will explore some of the intriguing principles of light and shadow. Making the puppets encourages design skills and technical ‘know-how’. Combining the question “Where in the world does our waste go?” and with inspiration from the story of “Ed the Duck’s dramatic rescue” this grade four workshop promises lots of fun and learning

Workshop Duration: 1.5 hours

Grade 5

Future Imagining with Masks

This workshop challenges students to think like Leonardo da Vinci by blending scientific reason with creative expression. Four hundred years beyond our time, what creatures will exist? How will technology advance? What obstacles will human beings overcome? Exploration, investigation and questioning are keys to designing a creature of the future. Students will compose a brief encyclopedia entry before building a 3-D paper sculpture mask. They will learn the basics of wearing a mask in drama and bring their creatures to life with a movement performance onstage in the Creative Kids Museum.

Workshop Duration: 2 hours

ECS

My Many Coloured Days
This workshop examines how feelings are expressed and some of the challenges in recognizing their expression. Students will explore ways to metaphorically represent feelings through music, imagery, movement, colour and literature. Our inspirational take off is Dr. Seuss’s book “My Many Coloured Days”. After exploring, they will create a painting full of feeling!

Workshop Duration: 1 hour

Grade 1

Celebrating RED!

Students will be invited to observe the colour red in their lives. They will explore the colour red and learn how to create shades and tints with black and white paint. Then they will take up the challenge of creating a piece of work that tells a story using only the colour red; painting with a variety of painting tools as well as using collage techniques.
Workshop Duration: 1 hour

Grade 2

Faces in Canada

Students will begin by looking at the many ways artists have represented ‘the human face’. They will then analyze a human face, take measurements and discover some basic rules for positioning of features. We’ll compare these to accepted drawing rules. Students will then create a transparent mask of a face using found objects. They’ll finish up by saying hello in one of the many languages of Canada.
Workshop Duration: 1 hour

Grade 3

India - Haven for Puppets

Students will go on a virtual whirl wind tour of India and learn that because of India’s many cultures there are many types of puppets. They will explore links between puppetry and four different regions of India. They will then create a Rajastani puppet* and learn about the traditions associated with it. Time permiting, they will learn a popular story from the Ramayana that they could tell with their puppets. Finally they can dance their puppet to some lively Indian music.
* A simple two string marionette with multiple skirts – traditional from NW India Workshop Duration: 1.5 hours

Grade 6

Greek Theatre on Stage
Students will have fun with costumes and props, bringing the highlights of Greek legends - Persephone, Icarus and Midas and as requested Plato's Cave, to life in this theatre based program. Throughout the program, Greek culture, government and influence on Western civilization is discussed. The students develop confidence in acting and practice teamwork as they stage their scenes in CKM's fully equipped theatre. In addition to acting and chorus, there is mention of the technical elements in theatre such as lighting, sound effects, costumers and the role of the director.

Workshop Duration: 2 hours

Throughout the school year, I offer presentations, readings, author in residence programs and conduct workshops for children at schools and libraries all across Canada. During the summer months, I am available for presentations and workshops at summer camps, delivering interactive, lively and fun filled sessions for children in grades one to six in Calgary and the surrounding area. I cover many of the topics listed on the Presentations and Workshops page of my website, but am very flexible and am always happy to discuss your organization’s specific needs and requirements.

For my Author in Residence program, I can be at your school for a week or longer. This allows me to cover certain topics in much more depth than would be possible during a regular author visit. We can also look at working with the students on a specific project.