Nurturing Young Minds Through Art — 50 Years of Child-Led Creativity in Toronto
Inspiring creativity, building confidence, and opening doors to discovery
At The Artful Child, we provide child-led art classes, creative preschool programs, and sensory play opportunities in Toronto. For over 50 years, we've nurtured creativity, confidence, and a passion for learning through hands-on, process-focused exploration
The Artful Child remains a loving, family business as Patricia’s youngest daughter Jessica Borowets, Honours BA Psych., entrepreneur and Human Services Counsellor, has taken it into her own and created an art hub for children with various creative programs. Jessica has lived and breathed The Artful Child, and what was The High Park Nursery School, since she was a toddler, and is committed to continuous learning about children and the relevance of the arts in their lives.
The Artful Child has naturally evolved from the High Park Nursery School which Irene Atkinson originally founded in 1962 in St. John’s Anglican Church across from Humberside Collegiate. Irene later became Chairman of the Board for the Toronto District School Board.
Patricia Canham, Early Childhood Educator, later embraced the High Park Nursery School as her own and operated it for 20 years. Upon her retirement, Maria Wowk, her eldest daughter and graduate of the Ontario College of Art, then took responsibility for the school and continued to run it for 16 years, re-branding the school as The Artful Child in the process.
Our History
RELATIONSHIPS
Painting at side-by-side easels invites relationships to be formed and deepened, especially treasured ones like a sister-brother relationship.
RELIVING
The language of paint offers this boy the opportunity to recreate and relive his recent visit to the ocean. A memory that evidently holds meaning to him.
RE-REPRESENTING
Each time a child recreates an idea in a different medium or material, they gain a deeper understanding of their idea and the material’s possibilities and limitations.
INSPIRATION
Children are careful observers and take notice of everything in their environment. For example, the colours and lines in a costume can be a source of inspiration.
BELONGING
Coming together and appreciating the language of music through the piano invites joy, friendship and a sense of belonging.
FREEDOM
Building and nurturing strong, caring, authentic relationships are at the heart of all that we do. For it’s only when children feel safe and comfortable in their space that they feel free to fully explore, experiment and express their ideas.
What We Cultivate
““I have not come across another preschool quite like The Artful Child. My son has been attending for only a few months, but already I can see how the experience has totally opened his world - he has discovered the magic of creating artwork, and developed a new confidence that can only come from being independent & meeting new friends, while being in a safe and highly nurturing environment.””
With practice and repeated opportunities to use a variety of creative mediums, we know that children can become proficient in ‘speaking’ many different ‘languages’ such as the language of paint, wire, clay, pastel, dance, music, sculpture, blocks and more. The more languages a child can speak, the more opportunities they have to share their thinking and communicate their thoughts of the world around them and how it works. We then in turn have more ways to listen to them.
As children work to become proficient in multiple ‘languages,’ we value the process that they go through as they build relationships with materials and create representations that depict their thoughts, feelings, questions and curiosities. Additionally, we believe that as we invite children from a young age to freely explore a variety of materials and processes, we foster a love of learning and emotional satisfaction, build self-esteem, encourage critical thinking and experimentation, and develop autonomy as well as the ability to collaborate with others.
To invite children’s voices and expression through the arts, we provide a comfortable, nurturing and inviting environment, filled with natural materials. Our space is rich with opportunities to explore a variety of artistic mediums, materials, costumes, instruments, books and music. We embrace mindful communication and a whimsical non-commercial attitude where we focus on process and relationships
Who Are We: Where Children’s Ideas Become Visible
We believe that children’s voices are valuable and worthy of listening to. For this reason, we believe that art is a language that allows children’s voices to be heard by bringing visibility to their thoughts, ideas and feelings
Our staff are loving, joyful, responsive and patient.We invite children to make their own choices, explore, experiment and observe using their whole bodies. We ensure each child feels safe and accepted so that they can fully explore through creative play. Our daily routine of circle time provides an opportunity for everyone to come together to listen to one another, build relationships and experience a sense of belonging. We often dance and sing together, dress up for role-play and read stories.
Our commitment to maintaining small group sizes in all of our programs further allows for children to experience a sense of belonging and ensures that every child has ample time and space to immerse themselves in their explorations.
Currently, we offer creative art classes for preschoolers in Toronto through our morning Art Preschool program for children aged 3-5 years. We also provide the most well-loved after school art programs for kids in Toronto, designed for children aged 4-8 years. Additionally, we host hands-on art classes for toddlers and parents in our Adult-Child Art Drop-Ins, allowing for a fun and engaging experience for both children and caregivers. We also offer private creative play sessions, renting out our space by appointment for personalized and exclusive use. We can’t forget art birthday parties for children!
Position: Long Term Volunteer Visual Artist (with the potential of future employment)
Hours/Week: 10-15/week
Role Responsibilities:
Facilitate children’s explorations with a range of art media and support process-based art projects
Set up materials and the environment in an inviting manner
Guide and support children’s use of materials
Observe and listen deeply to children’s ideas and intentions
Assist with the clean up of materials and projects
Qualifications:
Experience working with children 15 months-6 years of age and/or working as a caregiver or educator
Must have experience with mixed media such as clay, wire, charcoal, pastel or various paints
Must be an experienced artist, art student or art graduate
Reliable, warm, loving and patient and able to exude a calm and positive attitude
If you are interested and qualified for this position, please forward your resume to theartfulchild@gmail.com or fill out the form below.
Volunteer With Us
FAQs
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The fees at The Artful Child include the freedom for your child to use our good quality supplies for their process and enjoyment. We keep our groups small to maintain the integrity of the program for the children. It includes the addition of many unique and interesting objects in our classrooms. It also includes the pianist, high staff to child ratio and high quality staff with high retention.
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No. Our after school program is exempt from licensing because it is an arts based recreational program running outside school hours. Our creative adult/child drop-in does not need to be defined, because each child is accompanied by an adult. Our art and play preschool program is not licensed as a daycare, because it isn’t one, and does not come under the recreational status because it operates during school hours. We must still adhere to the guidelines of the CCEYA which will limit the amount of children we can have and the ages. The Artful Child is operating by fire and public health guidelines. We follow ‘How Does Learning Happen’ (Ontario’s Pedagogy for the Early Years), understand child development, and are more than proud of what we offer as an art based environment. We believe our space has more to offer than most early learning spaces.
The only way they will change this status for the preschool is if we have an occasional arrangement with a school board which we are working towards, or work towards becoming a private school. If you have any questions please contact me by email or phone Jessica 416-970-9004
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Payment is due for the month on the first day of that month. A late payment fee of 15.00 is incurred after the first week payment is not received. Payment is the same amount every single month, whether it is a long month or a short month with the exception of the After School Program where payment is based upon the number of classes in that month.
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No, you don't have to commit for the entire year, although most people do. Please let us know ahead of time what months you will be registering for so we can let other families know who are waiting to register.