This month, the BRIDGES class took a trip to A Painting Fiesta Art Studio for a social skills opportunity and fun outing. This trip allowed the students to explore their creativity through specific guidelines set forth by the studio. The social skills they used were those of receptive and visual communication that were then represented in their paintings. The students interacted and shared this experience together, which developed their group skills even further.

At A Painting Fiesta Art Studio, they had a sensory filled painting experience. It was a very hands-on way to employ their visual and auditory communication skills, following the spoken and visual guidelines provided by the instructor of the painting class. They also had the opportunity to explore their creative nature, as there was some freedom despite the guidelines. Even though they had the same instruction, the student’s art pieces looked different based on their own personal touch.

This was also great instruction on how to cope with stress. Observing and creating art is a very calming experience, and a great way to relieve stress. This teaches the students an activity that they can then use later on if they encounter a stressful situation, and they get a nice decoration out of it!

In addition, this was a community building experience. Any experience that a group of people go through together brings them closer as they have shared it, and can then talk about what they did and how they felt. The students all talked about the experience and their artwork after the class, and enjoyed looking at their own and others’ artwork.

The students had such a fun time at A Painting Fiesta Art Studio, and they all had incredible results! These BRIDGES students are great artists, check out their art in the pictures below. Thank you to A Painting Fiesta Art Studio for hosting this event and helping the BRIDGES students create their masterpieces.