Every week starts with a book and ends with something they made.
A story first visual arts program for childcare centres, schools, libraries and community organizations. We bring the books, the themes, the facilitators and the materials.
THE PROGRAM
Literacy and studio art, in the same hour.
The Visual Arts Enrichment Program is a facilitated arts program built around children's books. Each session opens with a read aloud from the Amazing Zoe series or a partner title, moves into a guided group discussion about what the story raised, then into a hands on studio activity that carries that same theme into paint, paper, clay or fabric.
Children aren't just doing a craft. They're responding to a story with their hands, which is why the work they take home means something to them.
The evidence backs it up. In the first large scale randomized controlled trial of arts education in a real school setting, more than 10,000 students across 42 schools received added arts programming through partnerships with local arts organizations and teaching artists. Compared with the control group, those students showed a 3.6 percentage point drop in disciplinary infractions, measurable gains in writing achievement, and an increase in compassion for others. Effects were strongest among elementary students.
Bowen and Kisida, Houston Education Research Consortium, 2019
HOW A SESSION RUNS
Four parts, sixty minutes.
The order matters. Every part sets up the one after it.
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Read aloud
A facilitator reads the week's title out loud, with voices, pacing and pauses for the children to react. Ten to fifteen minutes.
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Group discussion
Guided questions drawn from the book's theme. Belonging, courage, friendship, imagination, identity, problem solving. Children connect the story to their own lives before they pick up a brush.
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Studio time
The theme becomes the project. A different medium is introduced across the run so children build real technique, not just finished crafts.
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Share and reflect
Children present what they made and say what they were going for. Everything goes home with them the same day.
AGE GROUPS
Same theme, built two ways.
We run age appropriate versions side by side so a whole centre can take part in the same week's theme, with the complexity set to match the room.
AGES 3 TO 5
Kindergarten-age stream
Arts-and-crafts themed lessons tied to a title from the series. Shorter read-aloud, simpler discussion prompts, and a project designed for developing fine motor skills.
Large format, forgiving materials
Texture, colour and shape as the focus
Finished in one sitting, every time
Heavy on sensory and tactile work
AGES 6 TO 12
School age stream
Medium exploration. Children learn a specific technique each week and use it to interpret the story theme in their own way.
A new medium introduced across the run
Longer discussion with open ended questions
Room for personal interpretation and style
Vocabulary of technique built session by session
The mediums
We don't repeat ourselves.
A new theme every week, and a new way of making. Over a multi week run children work across a real range of materials, which is what turns a craft hour into an arts education.
Watercolour
Acrylic on canvas board
Textile and fabric
Oil pastel
Collage and mixed media
Drawing and line work
Air dry clay
Printmaking
Sculpture and construction
MATERIALS
We bring everything. You bring only a few staple items.
No supply run, no raiding the classroom cupboard, no surprise invoice at the end. Materials are built into the session fee.
Included in your fee
Paper, canvas boards, card and specialty stock
Clay, printmaking supplies, textiles and collage materials
Scissors, pencils, erasers and rulers
Table coverings, aprons and cleanup supplies
Books for the read-aloud
Facilitation, session planning and travel
Setup and full cleanup by our team
What your site provides
Glue
Markers/pencil crayons
Scissors
Paint, brushes and palettes
Table covering
That's the complete list. Everything else in the room that day is ours, and it leaves with the children or with us.
FORMATS AND PRICING
Book one session or a full term.
Pricing is per session, per group, with materials included. Longer runs are quoted at a reduced per session rate, and multi site organizations are quoted as one program.
Single session
From $599
One 60-minute session. Read-aloud, discussion and one studio project. Good for a PA day, a family event, a literacy week or a first look at the program.
6-week series
MOST BOOKED
Quoted at a reduced per-session rate
Five consecutive weeks, a new theme and a new medium each week. Long enough for children to build technique and for staff to see the difference in the room.
12-week term
Our best per-session rate
A full-term arc across ten themes and media, ending with a display or showcase of the children's work for families and staff.
Multi site and full organization rollouts
Custom quote
We deliver across several locations on a set weekly schedule, with both age streams running in the same week. We've run this model across five sites at once for children from preschool through Grade 6.
Rates are in Canadian dollars and don't include HST. Per child pricing is available for parent pay programs such as camps and registered recreation classes. Travel is included within the Greater Toronto Area and Peel Region, with a travel fee applied beyond that.
ADD ON
Bring the Bookmobile.
Canada's first arts and culture bookmobile pulls up to your site and becomes the venue. The read aloud happens on the bus, followed by a dance activation that gets every child moving. It pairs with the Visual Arts Enrichment Program for a launch week, a family day or a season finale, and it's quoted separately.
GOOD TO KNOW
The practical details.
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Our standard group size is up to 20 children per facilitator. Larger groups are absolutely doable, we simply add facilitators so every child gets attention and materials.
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A classroom, activity room or program room with tables and chairs, and access to a sink or washroom nearby. We cover the tables, we set up and we clean up.
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Yes. Your staff remain responsible for supervision and ratios throughout the session, as they would for any visiting program. Our facilitators lead the activity.
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Themes come from the Amazing Zoe series, published by Zou Zou Media House, or from a partner title chosen with you. If your organization has a cultural focus or a curriculum theme, tell us and we'll build the run around it.
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Always. Every project is designed to be finished and taken home that day, except pieces held back for an end of term showcase, which we return afterwards.
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Two to four weeks is comfortable for a single session. For a five or ten week run, reach out earlier so we can hold facilitators and order materials for your group size.
START HERE
Tell us about your group.
Send us your ages, group size, number of sites and the weeks you have in mind. We'll come back with a schedule and a quote.
info@zouzoumedia.co