If you’ve ever sat through a glorified colouring-in session disguised as an “art incursion”, you already know the bar in this category is on the floor. Schools and OSHC programs in Adelaide deserve more than that — and so do the children showing up to it.

This is what a Mini Ivy art incursion actually is, what’s included, and what the day looks like.

What is a Mini Ivy art incursion?

It’s our studio, packed into our van, brought to your room. Trained Mini Ivy art teachers arrive, set up, run a 90-minute hands-on session, and pack down. The children get a real art experience — not a worksheet, not a craft template, not a take-home colouring page. They paint on canvas. They build with structural materials. They sculpt with air-dry clay. They make something they’re genuinely proud of.

It’s available for any group of 20+ children, ages 3 through Year 6, anywhere in South Australia.

The four packages

  • Creative Cardstock Experience — $25 per child. Card-making, mixed-media collage. Bright, accessible, mess-light. Best for younger groups or first-time art incursions.
  • Easel & Canvas Package — $28 per child. The most-rebooked package. Real canvas, real easels. Every child takes home a piece they’re proud of.
  • Engineering Hub — $30 per child. Build-and-make: kinetic sculptures, paper engineering, structural collage. STEM-week favourite.
  • Clay Creations — $32 per child. Air-dry clay session. Pinch pots, simple sculpts, beads, wall hangings. Everything dries overnight.

All packages run 90 minutes. Minimum 20 children. Travel fees apply for regional South Australia.

What’s included

  • All art materials, paints, paper, canvases, aprons, drop sheets, brushes
  • Trained Mini Ivy art teachers (Working With Children Checks current — copies available on request)
  • Setup 30 minutes before, full pack-down after
  • Take-home work for every child

You provide the room, tables, chairs and access to a sink. We bring the rest.

What the day looks like

We arrive 30 minutes before the session start. Drop sheets go down, materials get distributed, easels assembled. The teaching team greets the children as they enter and frames the activity in two sentences — what they’re making, why it’s special, what they get to take home. Then it begins.

The structure is the same as our weekly studio: short demo, clear steps, room to make it their own. Children who want to follow the technique closely get to. Children who want to push it further get to. Nobody’s “doing it wrong” — that’s not what art is.

At the 75-minute mark we start the gradual wrap-up so artwork has time to dry. By the time the session ends, every child has something to take home and you have a clean room.

Themes you can tie into curriculum

If your week’s topic is famous artists, under the sea, farm animals, or something else entirely, tell us — we’ll match the activity to it. We’ve run incursions tied to literacy units, NAIDOC Week, Harmony Day, Term concept weeks, and end-of-term celebration days.

Booking lead time

Two weeks is comfortable. We can sometimes squeeze in a week’s notice — text Valando direct on 0433 602 888 if you need something urgent.

How to book

The fastest path is the quote form on the incursions page. Three minutes to fill in. We respond within 24 hours, weekdays.

If you’d rather skip the form, email hello@miniivy.com.au or call 0433 602 888.