About the studio

Location: _____________

The studio: Roly Poly is a relaxed, open-ended, kid-led art space. Our values are…

• Creativity: Children choose their own projects and materials. It gets silly and messy- and sometimes very serious. When children create, they work on persistence, fine motor skills, problem-solving, communication, spatial awareness, sharing and storytelling. They build confidence. They experience freedom!

• Community: Everyone is allowed to be themselves here. I meet children where they are at and encourage collaboration across difference.

• Climate consciousness: We supplement art-making with outdoor exploration and age-appropriate learning about the earth’s sickness. We strive for low-waste art-making through creative reuse.

The teacher: My name is Sophie Schwadron. I have been teaching early childhood students in DC for over 10 years. I come from a family of artists and musicians. When I was young, my mom kept a “junk box” and I spent days inventing with scissors and a hot glue gun. In 2024, I was profiled in book called Teaching for Climate Justice and I recently spent a week in the Costa Rican rainforest for a climate justice education retreat (I saw many snakes, two sloths and a tarantula!). Once, an older student walked past my classroom and asked “why is it always a party is there?”