Foster Creativity in Your Little Master: An Art Program For Toddlers at Longue Vue

Longue Vue House and Gardens is a hidden treasure located just off of Metairie Road. If you didn’t go there on a field trip in grammar school, I would bet many locals have not been there. The facility itself is beautiful and intact, just the way it was when the owners of this grand estate lived there. The facility is adorned with beautiful gardens and ponds throughout the property.

Longue Vue House & Gardens

One of the gardens, the Discovery Garden, is a hands-on environment where kids can dig and discover in the beauty of a living garden. They also do birthday parties in the Discovery Garden if you are looking for a party option.

Yes, what I am saying is that this historical home full of antiques is actually kid friendly! In addition to the house tour, they have programming for all ages, even little ones.

Little Masters Program

One of those programs is the Little Masters program. After hearing about it for a while now, I signed my daughter up to participate. The program is $10 for members and $13 for non-members and is held once a month for one hour on a Saturday morning. The program is for 2.5 to 5 year olds and one parent.

Each Little Masters session has a theme that is carried out with the art and storytelling. For our session the artist was Andy Warhol.

Little Masters is set up on the front lawn of the grand house under the sunshine and the elegant mature oaks. Little tot sized easels with aprons are set up in a row. They each have washable paint, brushes, a pre-drawn piece of art, and a little card with information about the artist of the day.

My Little Master in Acton

When you arrive, you jump right and paint, which of course was my daughter’s favorite part. Once she put as much paint on the paper as it would allow without disintegrating, we moved on to the second activity and left our masterpiece to dry.

After we painted an “Andy Warhol” picture, we moved on to the lawn as our leader read stories to the group. The stories were inspired by Andy Warhol’s works and focused on understanding colors. The leader did a great job of keeping the kids engaged throughout the story books by asking them the sounds animals made and what colors different animals were. I will admit I was worried about her sitting still for a story when there were so many opportunities for distraction around us, but it worked out well.

Then we formed a circle and the kids tossed colored bean bags around naming the colors as they caught them. With 2-5 year olds, we spent more time picking the bean bags up then we actually did catching them, but they thought it was fun.

After that we moved on to toddler yoga. Yup, you heard me correctly. It was so cute! The leader told a story about being in a garden as she instructed them to do the moves. Adorable!

After that we returned to the easels and our masterpieces were dry and ready to take home. It was a great Saturday morning!

Know Before You Go

Toddler Yoga

  • The next Little Masters is on Saturday, May 11 from 10-11AM
  • The artist of the day will be Milton Avery
  • The cost is $10 for members and $13 for non-members (includes one child and one parent)
  • The program is intended for 2.5 – 5 year olds
  • Longue Vue does take cash and credit card when you arrive, but you need to RSVP to reserve your spot by emailing [email protected]

If you are planning to attend a Little Masters here are just a few tips:

  • Bring wipes! They have paper towels but wipes are definitely needed for the painting portion.
  • Moms, don’t wear dresses. Because you need to sit on the lawn and assist in the toddler yoga, I definitely don’t recommend a dress.
  • Put your kids in sandals or something that is quick on and off. Because the kids remove their shoes for toddler yoga shoes that are easy on and easy off are best.

3 COMMENTS

  1. I have always wondered about this program- this would definitely make a great morning field trip with my little guy on the weekend when he gets old enough! I can’t wait to check it out!

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