Petite Picassos: Cannon Library hosts art class for toddlers

Once a month, Cannon Library librarian Loretta Croke teaches toddlers art in a class called Petite Picasso.

The subject changes for each class. She has taught art topics such as watercolor and mosaic. On March 24, she taught the toddlers how to draw basic shapes.

Croke said children who participate in art at a young age can learn skills such as motor skills, social skills, hand-eye coordination and creativity.

“And it’s fun, which is also good for them,” she said.

Croke said nothing the students create in the class is critiqued.

Tracey Armitage has brought her five-year-old son Galen to multiple classes and she said he enjoys them so much he urges her to drive faster on their way to the library.

“He loves arts and crafts,” she said. “Ms. Loretta has done some really neat things. He’s learned quite a bit.”

Christy Kerr said she and her four-year-old daughter Kaia Kerr have attended almost all of the Petite Picasso classes.

“She likes anything that’s creative,” she said.

Kerr also commended Croke on the variety of subjects she teaches the children. Kerr said her daughter’s preschool doesn’t teach art so she enjoys that she found an outlet for her daughter’s creativity.

“It’s kind of like having an art school for her,” Kerr said.