thedandelionproject.us

We took tweens and teens on a field trip last week to the magic gardens! We saw the artist Santiago Galeas’ exhibit “Entre Raíces y Alas” (“Between Roots and Wings”), which explores connections between diaspora, q***rness, and nature.

Santiago met us in the gallery and shared the inspiration behind his work. He told us about his own experience as a first-generation in his family to grow up in the US, and how this shaped his outlook as an artist. He explained how he uses painting styles with that have long been tools of empire like landscape and portraiture against their own history to tell the stories of q***r people of color.

Kids had lots of questions about his painting process and the stories behind each art work. One teen shared at the end: “I don’t usually like art, but this was so cool. I feel like I figured out a different way to look at art after this.”

We’re so grateful to Santiago for sharing his work with us and helping kids connect to art in a new way.

The Dandelion Project is in an exciting phase of growth. We’re expanding our space (again!), and gearing up to offer more community events, more after school programming, and share our space more consistently with other programs that serve kids and families.

We’re hoping to reach $10,000 by the end of the month to help us cover the cost of this expansion. We need your help to get there. Between the event and additional donations, we’re over halfway to our fundraising goal: we’ve raised $5,751 so far!

Find our fundraiser link in our bio to donate, share, and read more about what we’re building. The fundraiser will only be active through the end of the month, so now is a great time to help spread the word if you haven’t already.

Every dollar helps create new opportunities for kids and families in our community!

https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/donation-form/growing-together-the-dandelion-project-community-celebration-and-fundraiser

We’ve been doing some facilitated free play with the 5-7 year old small group this year.

We section off a space in the building that is full of some of our favorite toys and play together! A facilitator is present offering support so that kids can build the skills they need to develop relationships, take turns, dream up collaborative dramatic play, etc. The goal isn’t to interfere with play or unnecessarily insert an adult presence, but to notice where skills could be built towards their own goals.

Today, the facilitator:

✨Offered communication support: “Ask if you can have a turn when they’re finished” and “You could turn towards him to be sure he heard you.”

✨Supported kids to ask for and notice consent: “Did you ask before you touched her?” and “How are you noticing if they still like that?”

✨Helped kids enter play: “It looks like you are interested in the game they’re playing. Want to ask if you can play?”

✨Assist with collaboration: “It sounds like — has an idea, too!” and “Ooh, tricky. How can y’all decide?”

And more!
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

We hosted our first Science Fair!

Young people were invited to design and complete projects using the scientific process, and the range of questions they explored was incredible:
❔ Are good are cats at solving mazes?
❔Do plants like music?
❔What makes mold grow?
❔Where will Jeff the Potato grow the most sprouts?
❔Will complimented strawberries mold faster than insulted strawberries?
❔What makes the brightest natural dye?

And so much more!

What made this science fair special was that the focus wasn’t on competition or choosing a winner. We centered curiosity, experimentation, creativity, and reflection.

We were also lucky to have a guest scientist join us (a biology researcher from University of Pennsylvania) who watched each presentation and reflected back thoughtful observations about what kids did well, what was especially creative, and ways they could extend or refine their investigations.

We’re hoping this will become a new tradition for us! We’re excited to grow this project next year, exploring the ways to bring in more young people to ask big questions and share in a celebration of the wonder of science!

If you want to help us offer more events for Philly kids and families like this next year, check out the fundraiser link in our bio! We’re raising funds to invest in more science equipment and expand our space for additional events like this.

At Wild Seeds, kids of all ages love role playing games. This year, one of our teens has been running DnD campaigns for both peers and tweens. Younger community members asked for a similar experience, so we facilitated No Thank You, Evil! for the first time this year.

So much about it has been amazing: kids problem solving together, laughing at the absurdity of the adventures, and harnessing their creative energy. Participants loved creating their characters and narratives and some kids have stuck with multiple campaigns (which has been a commitment for several months!).

Recently, the teens and tweens at Wild Seeds went on two Flying Squads to try different french fries from food spots in our neighborhood. Everyone created their own rubrics with qualities of fries (temperature, textures, seasoning, etc.) that impact what makes them good!

Drag Week was one of our favorite themed weeks at After School so far! We've been talking throughout the spring about gender identity and how we can respect and celebrate ourselves and others. Following on the heels of Identity and Self-Expression Week, a drag- themed week was an opportunity to bring this exploration of gender and self expression to life in a hands-on, playful, and pretty delightful way!

Each day, kids had the opportunity to dress up in all kinds of bedazzling gear, including wigs, makeup and face paint, dress-up clothes, sparkles and fake mustaches! They also got to try out drawing a persona, exploring what kind of “look” they might want to create. A special guest (a friend and real-life performer) came in to share some real-life experience with drag character development, including a demo on how they do their drag king makeup that the kids got to help direct! They emphasized that drag can be an opportunity to explore and express different parts of ourselves, as well as to play with gender expression by trying out looks that aren't strictly either “masculine or “feminine.”

We were very lucky to close out the week with two more guests - two drag kings who performed musical theater-inspired numbers for us. Both performances (one inspired by Shrek and the other, the Tin Man from The Whiz!) explored their characters’ journeys of self-acceptance and self-love. The kids LOVED watching and lit up with questions about costume making, lip syncing and dance moves. An extra-joyful end to one of our most joyful weeks yet! 💄✨️😎