Feb. 5, 2025
It’s hundreds of kits each month, but how many My Studio to Go Art Kits her students have packed – well, she’s lost count.
“B.A.S.E. students have been packing art kits in our class for years,” she says. “Easily into the thousands, if not 10,000, art kits have been packed by my students in an assembly line just like this.”
At the Dream Center, B.A.S.E. students pack My Studio To Go Art Kits each month. In January, the Art Kit included watercolors, painting paper, supplies and more, assembling the kits in exactly the same way, hundreds of times as a group.
And along the way, B.A.S.E. students gain employment, communication and social skills that will go with them after high school, says Anissa Buecker, B.A.S.E. paraprofessional for more than 20 years.
“When they assemble the kits, the students are doing a task similar to many jobs they could have in the community after they graduate,” she says. “It’s repetitive, assembly line work, but this work makes these kits possible each month for other students.”
At seven SPS sites, all second- and sixth-graders receive an art kit once a month from January to May. These kits allow students to access art materials at home that they may not have access to otherwise, says Jessica Wagner, coordinator of fine arts.
“These kits ensure that students have ways to be creative, express themselves and build their fine motor skills at home,” she says. “In a world that is full of digital options for students, the My Studio to Go program allows them another option to engage in their learning and world.”
At Boyd Elementary School, art teacher Courtney Donaldson distributed art kits to her second-graders after a brief watercolor of a sample art project was featured in the kit. Each month’s kit comes with five art project ideas to try, all able to be completed with materials provided in the art kits.
“At home, I have markers, but I don’t have all of these other things,” says Emma Sherman, Boyd Elementary second-grader, looking at her kit. “I can’t wait to paint.”
The My Studio To Go Program is made possible through our Any Given Child Initiative with the Kennedy Center and a local donor.
