I was asked to facilitate a summer art program in our small town for children ages 4-7 years. The program was cancelled the past two years due to Covid. In addition, the children in this age group have been deeply affected by the pandemic, many having attended school intermittently the past two years; many experienced Covid first hand in their families.

A typical day included stories, movement, art projects and snacks. This one particular day we did things around the book by Maurice Sendak, Where the Wild Things Are. We read the book and had a Wild Things Rumpus where we pretended we were sailing to an island and living with the Wild Things while practicing our roars and growls, and then made masks of us as a wild thing. At the end of this day we circled and talked talked about what helped us the most, what we loved the most.

One 7-year-old girl in particular had only attended school online and participated in small group experiences for 30 minutes each week. She did not have any large social experiences with other children prior to attending art camp. This girl spoke up and said, “I loved that everyone was so nice and I made friends. My new friends were part of my art.”

This is a picture of the mask she made.