BALTIMORE — Two organizations, Young Audiences and FutureMakers, have teamed up with Baltimore City Public Schools to distribute creative coursework to families free at school food distribution sites.
Families can pick up arts and learning snack kits every week at all participating locations. The kits provide alternative learning materials to Baltimore City families during remote learning.
"Some of our kids don’t have access to online learning," said Young Audiences' Stacie Evans. "This is resources that we can put in their hands and they can do either on their own, without a device and with their families."
Evans was on site at Pimlico Elementary Tuesday with packed materials ready for parents to take home for students. Inside the bags were kinetic sculptures.
"These projects focus on being creative," said Evans. "I think a lot of online learning focuses on English, language arts and math. We need to be thinking about creativity, artistic development and imagination as well."
Sasha White was more than happy to pick-up on of the kits. She told WMAR-2 News it will give her second grader a creative break from online learning, which isn't always successful because of technology issues.
"These starter kits are wonderful," said White. "I was running out of ideas of what to do. Running to stores and them being out of crafts. This is great because everything is in the bag."
9,000 arts and learning snacks are being handed out to families and students across Baltimore City free of charge.
One woman who didn't want to be identified picked up food from the school's food distribution program. When she saw the kits she asked for three.
"They're for my grandchildren," she said.
For more information on FutureMakers, click here.
