Children’s Art Programs

Support your child’s creativity and confidence

Every child is an artist. The problem is staying an artist when you grow up.
— Pablo Picasso
Child holding a colorful, hand-drawn octopus paper craft

At Blue Mouse Gallery, art is a process.

That’s why we offer open-ended art projects in our classes. We encourage individual creativity and explore the world of art together.

We cultivate personal agency.

We are a community where children belong and make their own choices. By planning and developing their own art projects, children strengthen executive functions like focus, planning, evaluation and self-correction.

We share our artists’ pride and joy.

We present artwork from our classes in gallery-style exhibitions and celebrate children’s art with public exhibition opening receptions.

Our groups support social learning.

In addition to art, we teach kindness and cooperation. Our studio is a safe space that welcomes everybody.

Find information about our holiday and vacation programs here.

Art for All Ages: Open Studio

Be creative with family and friends!

Blue Mouse Gallery invites you to explore our studio on Saturday mornings. Families are welcome to make art together and socialize. Or bring a friend and have an art play date! Children under 5 years of ages must be accompanied by adults at all times.

During open studio time, you will have free access to our basic tools and materials (paper, cardboard, markers, paint etc.). If you are not sure what to make, ask us for ideas! We always have projects available that we can recommend and work on together.

Open Studio is limited to 10 artists at a time. We recommend signing up in advance to secure your spot, but as long as we have space, walk-ins are welcome.

Please sign our waiver prior to your child’s first visit at Blue Mouse Gallery. You can bring a printed copy, email us a signed PDF, or fill out the form when you arrive at our studio. We cannot permit participation without a signed waiver.

  • Saturday 11:30-1:00pm

  • Cost: $40 per artist (supervising adults join for free, use code SIBLING for 10% sibling discount for second registration)

  • Sign up for a visit

  • Download waiver

A child painting on canvas with acrylic colors

6-Week Classes for Ages 3-12

Class Session 6: May 11-June 22, 2026

Registration for the school year’s last class session is now open. Please contact us with any questions.

Our classes run in 6-week sessions that allow us to work on projects over several weeks. Group size is limited to 10 students (8 students for ages 5 and under). There will be no class on Memorial Day (May 25), but weekend classes will keep running during Memorial Day weekend (May 23 & 24). If you are planning to travel, please let us know so that we can make arrangements for make-up classes ahead of time.

Please sign our waiver prior to your child’s first visit at Blue Mouse Gallery. You can bring a printed copy, email us a signed PDF, or fill out the form when you arrive at our studio. We cannot permit participation without a signed waiver.

Classes for Ages 3-5: Create & Explore

These classes are made for preschoolers and kindergarteners. As they are drop-off classes, children have to be 3 years old on the first day of class to participate. We will mix process art with structured art projects, but will always keep our projects open-ended. Giving children agency and supporting self-expression are at the core of our mission. Working with different materials will aid the development of fine-motor skills, while self-directed projects support imagination, speaking and social skills, as well as confidence and resilience.

Beautiful Oops! - Inspired by Barney Saltzberg’s amazing book “Beautiful Oops!,” we will explore what happens when an “Oops” happens. Commonly known as mistakes, Oopses are a great start for all kinds of artistic projects. We will tear and crinkle pages, make holes in our paper, smudge and smear our paints… and then turn our Oops into art.

This class supports creative thinking and mental flexibility, but most of all it increases your child’s resilience to failure. Because making mistakes can be fun!

 Classes for Ages 5-10: Discover Art & Express Yourself

These classes are designed for grades K-4 (sorry, no preschool students). While teaching skills relevant to making art, all projects offer free choices to encourage creativity and self-expression.  Children learn about themselves and their emotions by talking about the creative process. Our small groups practice social skills and support the development of confidence and resilience.

Figure & Portrait - This class will explore the human figure by creating a sculpture of a moving person, using wire, plaster bandages, and acrylic paint. Our second project will be a self portrait. By basing the portrait on a photo and using a tracing technique on a colorful background, we will overcome the intimidation of drawing our own face.

Focusing on the human body and our faces will train observation skills and attention to detail—in addition to artistic skills like sculpting and drawing.

Classes for Ages 8-12: Learn New Skills & Find Your Artistic Voice

These classes have a stronger focus on developing art-related skills but will stay true to our mission of supporting and enabling free creative expression. Beyond skill acquisition, creative choices are free and personal agency is encouraged. Self-directed art projects support executive skills like planning, self-evaluation, correction and decision-making. They increase resilience to failure as well as problem-solving skills. Because strong creative thinkers are our future.

Create Your Own Board Game - Create your own board game from scratch! First, we will develop a theme and a concept for the game, then design our boards. Finally, we have to create playing figures, cards, and any other elements we need for our games.

This class trains logical thinking and planning as well as traditional artistic skills like drawing and sculpting.

Two children doing colorful crafts during a birthday party

Birthday Parties (ages 3-12)

Make your celebration as creative as you are!

Our birthday parties are as unique as your child. They get to choose a theme for their party, and we provide a list of suggested activities that match the theme, their age, and the general characteristics of the expected group.

You are free to bring food and drinks of your choice. Blue Mouse Gallery can accommodate 10 children for birthday parties on Sunday afternoons (while we recommend a maximum size of 10, we can arrange to host 12 children if needed).

Please get in touch if you are interested in hosting a birthday party with us! Individual pricing depends on the number of children and the material costs of the selected art projects. We will start with a baseline of $400 for 10 children (90 minutes, 3 art projects) and will determine additional costs for a larger number of children, extra time, or more elaborate art materials (e.g., using canvas, clay etc.).