This June I was forced to had the opportunity to lead a free watercolour workshop for children at my job. This year Staples Canada made renovations to select Ontario stores to include a large Staples Kids section. Paired with these complete renovations was an initiative called Staples Learn & Play: a number of free workshops featuring products available at Staples.
I was in charge of a watercolour workshop in which I would teach children to use Staedtler watercolour markers and pencils to create a painting called Sunset Cacti. A trio of cacti in planted pots in front of a simple gradient of sunset colours in the background.
The event itself was very chaotic. Families were supposed to arrive at designated intervals and parents were supposed to supervise their children. Unfortunately the time slots were not being properly followed and as a result we had large groups of children all wanting to paint as their parents wandered around the store. All of this happening during hour 7 of my 9 hour shift. The bright side to this miniature disaster was because so many families came early, the kiddos that came in closer to the end of the event had much more of a structured experience. The calmer environment seemed much more enjoyable to the kids, parents and especially to me.
The best example of this was the very last family that showed up, a sassy 10 year old girl and her mother. I was pretty exhausted at this point but still tried to instruct my last mini class only to be interrupted by the child politely telling me she didn’t need any advice. The comment was so out of left field I burst out laughing. I said no problem and that I’d be here if she had any questions. The three of us, me, the mother and the girl all ended up painting together and chatting.
All of the later painting sessions had this relaxed vibe and I felt like I was actually teaching as opposed to trying to wrangle a bunch of unruly kids. It was a much better learning environment and it was these families that ended up actually buying watercolour pencils and brushes while their paintings dried.
Overall I think the event was a success. Would I do it again under these chaotic conditions? Absolutely not! But I learned a lot and had a blast painting along with some kiddos, so it all turned out okay in the end.
Autumn Taylor's Sketchblog 