In partnership with Operation Food Search, Springboard to Learning delivered 4,000 Arts and Learning Snacks through the month of May to family meal sites across the St. Louis Public School (SLPS) District and the St. Louis County Library (SLCL) system.
Arts and Learning Snacks are small kits of hands-on arts activities designed for students to create at home. They include a set of written and visual instructions, providing rich, arts-education experiences that connect with curricular content without requiring access to technology.
The Snack kits were delivered to SLPS meal sites at Lyon Academy, Langston, and Nahed Chapman New American Academy, and SLCL meal sites at Bridgeton Trails, Cliff Cave, Florissant Valley, Indian Trails, Jameston Bluffs, Lewis and Clark, Natural Bridge, Prairie Commons, Rock Road, and Weber Road. The kits included materials for four different activities — Art Machines, Pinch Pots, Peek Through Your Window, and Imagination Collaboration. These activities encourage kids to use their critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, and communication skills, much like Springboard to Learning’s Signature Programs would during an in-school session.
“Under-resourced students, already struggling to meet grade-level expectations, are at risk of falling even further behind during school closures. Springboard believes its ‘Arts Snacks’ are a way of keeping students engaged in learning during these unprecedented times,” said Cathy Hartmann, Executive Director.
During the month of July, Springboard distributed an additional 1,350 Snack kits to the Weber Road, Lewis and Clark, and Florissant Valley branches of the St. Louis County Library.
Snacks were made possible by generous donations from the Old Newsboys Fund for Children, the Saigh Foundation, the St. Louis Philanthropic Organization, the Taylor Family Foundation, and the support of numerous individual donors.
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