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PARKERSBURG -- The Parkersburg Art Center kicked off its annual series of "Arty Parties" on Saturday, which give local children a chance to try their hands at a variety of arts and crafts activities every Saturday through March 9.
The free Arty Party program, which is sponsored by the Virginia L Neptune Foundation, will run from 10 a.m. to noon each Saturday at the art center at Eighth and Market streets in downtown Parkersburg.
"It is for children ages 4 to 12," said Jessie Siefert, education director for the art center.
The program will culminate on March 16 with the annual Art-O-Rama program for children and their parents.
Siefert said the Arty Parties offer a different art or craft experience each week and provide a wide range of materials for children and their parents to try. The art center has volunteers and staff to assist with each program and supervise play.
On Saturday, the children were working on creating their own tambourine. The kit included a cardboard tambourine, bells and yarn. To make the tambourine, kids were to tie a knot at the end of one yarn piece leaving excess of around two to three inches behind the knot, lace the yarn out through a hole in the tambourine with the knot resting on the side of the tambourine, string two bells on to the yarn, then lace the yarn through the next hole and back out again repeating the previous steps.
The kids then decorated their tambourine with markers. Siefert said it was a good project because it involved several types of activities, including drawing, coloring, sewing and others.
"I want to be an artist when I grow up, because I love all kinds of colors," Delilah Brearton, 7, of Parkersburg, said.
"Artist get to play with and create colors that normally you wouldn't see," she said.
Each week there will be different art materials/projects to explore. The planned line-up for art projects are:
* Jan. 12: Watercolor painting
* Jan. 19: Winter scene collage
* Jan. 26: Fun with cardboard tubes
* Feb. 2: Groundhog puppets
* Feb. 9: Valentine bird collage
* Feb. 16: Tissue paper decoupage
* Feb. 23: Magic nuudles
* March 2: Basket weaving with tag board and raffia
* March 9: Draw a tree fingerpaint leaves
All projects are subject to change.