Workshops
Respect for individuality, empathy, and a sense of possibility are the key elements in all workshops facilitated by Artful Connections
Offering an Outstanding Learning Experience
Learn Arts-Based Activities You Can Use Right Away
Everything you learn in your workshop, you can implement with your family member or client right away! Learn how a variety of arts modalities can be used in combination, to create custom made experiences.
One of Kind Workshops
We custom create your workshop to fit your needs perfectly. Professional development is an important investment and we want you to get exactly what you need from each workshop.
Follow-up & Additional Resources
The learning doesn't stop with your workshop; we continue to support workshop participants with new activities & resources, delivered right to your email inbox.
Workshops for Caregivers
Custom designed, in-person workshops are available for caregivers in the Peterborough, Ontario area! Here is a sampling of what we offer.
Using Puppets as a Caregiver
Whether you are working with individuals, families or groups; puppets have an important role in assisting with communication, self-expression, problem-solving and healing. In this workshop, you create a sock puppet to assist you in the work you do with others. As a group, we explore a variety of ways puppets can give a voice to those who are too hurt, sad or confused to speak. Learn how to use puppets to teach difficult and sensitive topics (such as abuse, death, fear, etc.). Problem-solving strategies using puppets are practiced, and a number of fun & creative activities are taught to draw out personal & family stories, strengthen relationships & simply have fun.
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Workshops for Almost Anyone
We custom design arts-based workshops for organizations, community groups, schools, retirement residences, long term care homes & businesses. Let us know what you have in mind, and we'll create something special just for you and your group! Here are a few of our most popular workshops.
Abuse Prevention Training for Vulnerable People
Puppets are an excellent tool in demonstrating and teaching abuse prevention in a visual, but safe and respectful way. Participants problem-solve along with the puppets to create anti-abuse strategies that work for each individual.
Contact Us to Book Your WorkshopPuppetry for Self-Discovery
Is something holding you back from the things you want to do in this world? People are sometimes torn between what they want to do and what they think they should do. Over time, we sometimes become so removed from our truest desires, we struggle to identify what it is we really want to do with our lives.
In this hands-on workshop, you create two hand puppets to assist you with this task. One puppet reflects your “inner critic” – the oppressive voice who puts you down and makes you feel like you’re never “good enough”. The second puppet represents your “inner cheerleader” – the voice who believes in you, encourages you to expand your comfort zone and recognizes the great things you’re capable of doing.
You will use your 2 puppets in a playful way to work through a number of activities to get to know these “characters” better, identify your truest desires, and develop a strategy for living a happier and more meaningful life.
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Puppets in the Classroom
"Know Me"
Our newest educational workshop is called “Know Me”. Shelley King and Linda Briden combined their individual talents and areas of expertise to create a uniquely creative program for students in grades 3 to 6. This 1 ½ hour workshop gives students the opportunity to challenge assumptions and discover common ground with classmates and members of their community, despite surface differences. Puppetry is used as the medium for delivering and reinforcing the key messages. We use a combination of sock puppets and shadow puppetry to present to the students. Following a classroom discussion, each student makes and uses their own sock puppet to keep the learning going.
The “Know Me” workshop focuses on the importance of sharing and listening to one another’s story. Through a powerful, hands-on, and interactive presentation, we address BIG ideas such as the value of a diverse and inclusive society, the importance of tolerance, and the power of each individual voice.
“Know Me” addresses several outcomes in the Ontario Arts curriculum and Ontario Social Studies curriculum for Grades 3, 4, 5 & 6. As educators we strive to promote the development of a sense of “who I am and who we are”. It is important for our schools to foster a sense of community where all students feel included and appreciated. “Know Me” successfully promotes such relationships and ideals.
Contact Us to Book Your WorkshopIntergenerational Programming
There is so much magic that happens when young people and elderly people have the opportunity to learn together, create together, and play together. It is the very definition of connection & joy!
Shelley King, founder of Artful Connections, has had the great honour of coordinating over a dozen intergenerational projects in the past decade! You can view a short video from the past 2 projects, which brought together children (ranging in age from 5 to 11), and seniors living in long term care homes. Through intergenerational, arts-based activities, children learned stories from their senior partner's life and then co-created with their senior partner, the puppet characters and a storyboard, based on those stories. The seniors took on the role of directing the stories as the younger generation brought them to life through the art of puppetry. Audiences made up of family members, friends, staff & community, came together to enjoy, honour and celebrate the seniors' stories.
If you are interested in hosting an arts-based, intergenerational project for your organization or place of work, please contact Shelley King at Artful Connections, for more information.
Bringing Stories to Life Through Puppetry
Grade 3 students from Edmison Heights Public School in Peterborough, Ontario met with residents of Fairhaven Long Term Care, over a 3 month period, to get to know each other and share some story magic!
Intergenerational Storytelling Through Puppetry
Featuring Residents of Extendicare Lakefield and Peterborough & Area Homeschoolers
