Kid Baltimore | Family Activities with Children in Baltimore, Maryland

Free Family Art Drop-in at Creative Alliance

WHAT: Family Art Drop-in

WHERE: 3134 Eastern Ave., Baltimore, MD 21224

WHEN: Saturdays, Jan 19-Mar 23, 12-3pm

COST: FREE

Cabin fever anyone? About this time of year I think we all need to find excuses to unburrow from our hiding places and go play. Creative Alliance is hosting a free family drop-in art class, Kerplunk! It begins this weekend and continues every Saturday through March 23. Kids must be accompanied by an adult. No registration is needed. All materials are provided so stop by and create your masterpiece!

Here are some of the upcoming activities:

1/19   Story Boxes- Transform a box into a story about you!        

1/26   Old CDs make shining jewelry. Bling Bling!

2/2     Paintings by Tom Horjus  inspire a cityscape out of straws

2/9     Build a tiny triangular tower from toothpicks and straws

2/16  Design a glowing  poster from fluorescent paper

 

 

Children's Book Illustrator Paul O. Zelinsky

Paul Zelinsky just sent me a copy of one of his children's books. Actually, it was his first-ever picture book, and was published in 1981. He has since gone on to have an amazing children's book career, and I'm thrilled to take a look back to where it started. The inscription reads in my book reads "To Joyce, for the oddest reason — happily, Paul O. Zelinsky. Isn't your curiosity piqued? 

 

The Maid and the Mouse and the Odd-shaped House, was adapted from an old rhyming story that Dorothy Brooks found in her mother, Henriette Holzer's notebook. Henriette Holzer was a schoolteacher, and as this story was told, each child would go up to the chalkboard and complete a different part of a picture. I won't tell you anymore, so you can enjoy the surprise.

Zelinsky's illustrations have a wonderful vintage feel, and although the story is an old one, dating back to before 1897, the concept is still so current.

Paul O. Zelinsky was awarded the Caldecott medal in 1998 for Rapunzel. Some of his other more well-known books include:  The Wheels on the Bus, Rumpelstiltskin, Swamp Angel and his latest Z Is for Moose.

For updates on Paul's latest projects, follow him on twitter @paulozelinsky.

Thank you for the lovely book, Paul!