HeyJaredArt is Play
Cultivating creative classrooms, where art is play and play is learning.
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- Aug 29, 2026
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- Jul 8, 2026
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A play studio inside a public elementary school (opens the original)
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Recently, I spoke with Liz Smallwood, who is a veteran educator, a passionate advocate for play and play-based learning, a wizard of loose parts and materials, the founder of Artful Play Studio, and a longtime contributor to The Creativity Project. Liz was formerly a classroom teacher in a public elementary school in Ohio. Colleagues, educators from other districts, and district administrators would frequently visit her classroom, intrigued and energized by the integration of play as an essen
Build clear, easy systems for truly child-led creativity! (opens the original)
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One of the easiest ways to encourage more independent making at home or in the classroom is to simply make materials easier for kids to access and to make routines for taking materials out and putting them back as easy as possible.When art materials are tucked away in a cabinet closet or only come out when an adult has a specific project or invitation planned, kids rely on adults for their creative spark. But when a small collection of materials is visible, organized, and available, children beg
How to make art clean up a little less miserable (opens the original)
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My younger son just came home from sleepaway camp and, used to a jam-packed and structured daily routine, asked immediately to make Oobleck. I decided to indulge. We grabbed cornstarch, water, and liquid watercolor to turn it a nice shade of turquoise and mixed it in a bowl outside. It held his attention for about 6 seconds when he realized he wasn’t actually in the mood for this kind of messy play and grabbed his baseball glove instead. I know you know this feeling well, whether at home or in t
Does play matter after early childhood? (opens the original)
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We’re more than halfway through summer and balancing work, play, screen time, sleeping in, and wild energy! During these somewhat structure-less days, I’ve noticed my bigger kids slipping into that magic summer boredom state—where they scrap together weird ideas, unearth art materials that haven’t had a lot of action, and find flow. To be honest, observing this sometimes frenetic state is both very inspiring and easily overwhelming for me, so I wanted to talk about unstructured creative play for
How do we make play possible? (opens the original)
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Thank you, readers, and especially our crew of supporting subscribers who make this publication possible, for sticking with us this month as I have been traveling with my family. I have been researching and soaking up as much inspiration as possible for Art is Play and other facets of our work, while trying to get my own creative energy to shift into high gear. I have also been thinking a lot about how the physical environment, any physical environment, makes play possible. As I shared in our la
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