Our approach to Sure Start activities

Over the last few years, a team of Art in the Park artists (including Jill Newman) began to involve art/ play/ music sessions into purpose-built family centres in the Bermondsey area. The team consisted of experienced artists and some young junior artists. The balance worked very well.

We now deliver themed workshops which focus on the experience or process of creating rather than on finished objects.

It's the enjoyment and creative learning outcomes from adult and child interactions that is more important than any resulting artwork. Thus, the themes can be quite conceptual, sensory and playful. They can be about stories, sound, movement, sensory/ textural installations.

We help carers be more "child-lead" and to listen to what the child wants, as well as to patiently teach the children motor-skills such as using scissors or printing blocks. We also like to use materials that one can find around the house or park easily.