“We gave them, both children and teachers, permission to play and create. The results were amazing!” said Naomi Schliesman, lead artist of the Early Childhood Initiative’s creative play-based project, Exploring Emotions about Germs and Illness.
As the world returned to a normal pre-pandemic pace, early care and education teachers needed help with children’s behavior.
“Families struggled with many factors during that pandemic that disrupted children’s routines, security, and overall well-being,” said West Central Initiative Director of Early Childhood Nancy Jost. “Some children were stressed and acted out because they lacked the vocabulary to explain their frustrations and possible traumas.”
As a result, supportive services, such as mental health professionals were—and still are—in high demand. Local agencies also struggled with staff turnover. Mental health professionals couldn‘t maintain their client load, and assisting child care sites became their last priority.
“We needed a different approach that could reach more children and easily weave into their everyday lives,” said Jost. “We needed an approach to reduce everyone’s stress.”
Nancy Jost and Marsha Erickson, West Central Initiative Early Childhood Initiative staff, turned to local artist Naomi Schliesman for a solution. Schliesman, along with Chelsey Beilhartz and Justin Ness, developed a project that incorporated music, movement, and monster-making!
“We loved them, and the kids loved them,” said Heather Kajava from the Barnesville Child Daycare Center. “The whole production of the germ magic show was so great. The families were so happy. It was great to hear the laughter and see the smiles. We’d love to have the artists back!”
With help from a Mardag Foundation grant, the artists shared stories of germs and prevention with children at local child care centers. They provided materials like pipe cleaners, sprinkles, googly eyes, and feathers to encourage children to express themselves by creating clay germ monsters. The artists also led the children and teachers in singing and dancing.
“This was an amazing and positive experience for our preschoolers,” said Melisa Schueler from the Community Preschool First Lutheran Church. “The smiles on the faces of the children while playing their drums and dancing to engaging music were priceless. All the supplies provided and the creativity ignited while working on our germ monsters was uplifting. As we left the stations, you could hear the kiddos say, ‘That was so cool!’ and ‘That was awesome!’ Thank you again for giving our preschoolers this opportunity.”
