Four Years Later, This Brooklyn Treasure is Still Wonderful
Things change quickly in Brooklyn, especially storefronts and especially things for kids. So I was thrilled when I discovered that Private Picassos on 5th Ave and Carroll was still doing drop-in art projects from their storefront. I have so many wonderful memories of taking my first kid here on long afternoons when we tired of the park and wanted something more to do that didn’t involve screens or organizing play dates.
This week I was doing the same with my second kid and wandered into Private Picassos yet again. Of course we had to do the painting option (that is always the first choice before moving on to other things on subsequent visits), but there were several projects to choose from including sculpting with modeling clay. The painting uses tempera paint, which is the most washable and non-toxic kind you can get, in lots of colors. Kids can even mix them. The stand-up set up with lots of brushes and pots is better than most of what we would have time to set up at home.
We have done some the other projects in the past and they include little kits and instructions. They also sell these kits to take home and do whenever you wish.
We have framed the painting from both kids in our home now, both just around their second birthday, and it is fabulous–the best art in the house.
Notice how much cleaner the wall was in 2017! So many layers of memory. We need to continue supporting storefronts like these as they are rare and wonderful. They have classes as well, which are great, but the drop-in is so perfect that I hope they never stop doing it. There are other kid’s art studios in Brooklyn that offer fun classes and camps, like the Creatively Wild Art Studio in Dumbo (which as has adult classes), but very few with the drop-ins.