Children's Museum, Little Friends Team Up To Offer Art Lessons

NAPERVILLE, IL — For the last six weeks, children enrolled at Little Friends Respite Family Services' Naperville branch have explored various art forms each Thursday night through a partnership between the group and nearby DuPage Children's Museum (DCM).

Little Friends empowers children experiencing autism, intellectual and emotional disabilities – as well as their families, according to their website. DCM provided materials to the group each week and led lessons in watercolor experiments, book-making, game-making, clay studio and more, said Dustin Thacker, DCM arts and maker specialist.

Thacker, who facilitated each lesson virtually, said the program provided an opportunity for the DCM to combine its expertise with that of Little Friends.

"The Children's Museum has a unique and really powerful philosophy about how children learn – and learn through play, in particular," Thacker said. "We can share our expertise, and they (Little Friends) have their expertise working in their community. We're supporting each other's work."

Thacker said he's done a plethora of art projects with children, and has found a few go-tos that are adaptable to a wide range of learning styles.

Encouraging kids to get creative is important, Thacker said, because it allows them to see themselves as artists and feel like they're in control. Throughout each lesson, he would repeatedly tell his students that they had complete control over what they were creating.

"For kids – and for humans in general – to have control over what you're doing, to feel like you're in control, is so valuable and so important," Thacker said. "And art gives you a great way to do that."

Becky Pundy, director of Respite Services, said in a statement that the group greatly benefited from Thacker's activities.

"DCM's partnership with Little Friends Respite program is the ultimate package – providing a special workshop for our participants while caregivers still get a break," Pundy said. "Caregivers feel secure knowing their children are safe while also receiving the bonus of an art experience they would normally have to register for at the museum separately."

Though DCM's final session with Little Friends took place on Thursday night, Thacker said he hopes the museum will do more work similar to their collaboration with Respite Services.

"There's probably lots of community groups that could use our expertise," Thacker said. "When those two things come together, and that partnership and that collaboration happens, magic appears, because we're both working in our expertise."