Everything we know,
written down.
Free guides from a working art studio for three to six year olds. No sign up to read them, and nothing here is a teaser.
Written by Valando Demetriou, a qualified early childhood educator and Co-Founder of Mini Ivy Art Studio in Torrensville.
Who writes these
Valando Demetriou
Co-Founder, Mini Ivy Art Studio
I studied teaching at Flinders University and spent about eight years teaching reception to year two. Every year, children arrived a little less ready than the year before, so I slowly built my own way of teaching art to deal with it.
Mini Ivy is where that became a programme. We run structured creative development sessions for three to six year olds, five days a week, at our studio in Torrensville, Adelaide.
The Kitchen Table Ten
ARTKITTen things to make with what is already in your house, each one with a mess rating and the exact words to say while they do it.
What your child’s drawing means
STAGEThe five drawing stages from two to six, and why the head with legs and no body turns up in every country on earth.
The Growth Mindset Starter Kit
MINDSETThe language we use in the studio to turn “I can’t do it” into “I can’t do it yet”. Scripts and printable prompts.
Is my child ready for school?
RECEPTIONA readiness checklist that is not about writing their name. Focus, fine motor, following instructions, and what actually matters.
The Fine Motor Skills Checklist
GRIPAge by age milestones, and ten activities that build pencil grip and hand strength without a pencil in sight.
The Screen-Free Weekend Playbook
WEEKENDTwenty hands-on experiences that need nothing more than what is already in the house.
Art as a Feelings Language
FEELINGSHow children use colour and mark making to say the things they cannot say out loud yet.
The Art Cupboard
CUPBOARDThe first twenty dollars, the next twenty, and what each thing actually teaches. Plus what I would never buy.
Six Saturdays
SATURDAYSSix weeks, one theme each, four makes a week, nothing bought.
Five artists, five lessons
ARTISTSKusama, Rothko, Kandinsky, Matisse and Goldsworthy, ready to run this week. The words to say, what each one builds, and how to tell it worked.
A term, planned
TERMTen weeks sequenced properly, a blank grid to fill in, and how to build week eleven onwards yourself.
The material cards
CARDSOne card per material. The character, the one rule, the exact words. Print, laminate, keep in the trolley.
Printable
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The Mini Ivy Method
The whole thing, written down for people who run art tables for a living and were never shown how. The order to teach in, how to build any theme yourself, and what to say in the twenty seconds after a child says they have ruined it.
See The Mini Ivy MethodActivities are everywhere and they cost nothing. The teaching is the part nobody hands you, and I would rather you had a working version of it than a sample. If you are in Adelaide and would like to see it running, our Discovery Sessions are free and run every weekday at 10:30am in Torrensville.