Upcoming Kids Classes
free after-school art classes for every tuesday!
Join us every Tuesday for free, fun-filled after-school art designed just for school aged kiddos! It’s the perfect way for your little artists to explore their creativity and make new friends.
free After school art runs from 5-6pm
The last class of the year will be Tuesday, April 28, 2026
THE DREAM OF FREE ART...
Here at the Macoupin Art Collective, we believe that access to quality art instruction is crucial to every person's intellectual, emotional, and social development, regardless of financial situation or demographic.
with that in mind, we offer free after-school activities to introduce kids to crafts and fine arts. Kids can come to The MAC to socialize with their peers and learn valuable skills that allow them to express their creativity.
Our free after-school art is all about exploration! Friends will be offered a few materials then kiddos are offered to explore! We will be there to help with questions and tips or tricks- but this is a self-directed class.
sponsored by
Support from the Dana Brown Charitable Trust helps make our youth programming more accessible to our community. Their funding allows us to offer affordable and free opportunities—like our after-school art classes—so kids can explore creativity, build confidence, and learn new skills in a welcoming, hands-on environment. This support ensures that more young artists, regardless of financial barriers, have a place to create, learn, and grow at The MAC.
Kids One-Shot: Poppy Flowers
$35
ages 8+
Kiddos will learn how to create their very own simple ceramic flowers using an easy pinching technique. These sweet little blooms make a fun, hands-on project for young makers and are perfectly timed for a thoughtful Mother's Day gift.
Note for parents:
We encourage parents to hang out in the studio to keep an eye on their kiddos and offer encouragement during classes. We love to see you engaged in your kids' growth and development through art! However, we feel it necessary to share our educational philosophy to avoid stepping on any toes and hurting parents' feelings.
We believe that kids should be allowed to explore the materials and processes involved with making arts and crafts, and we want every project that our young friends take home to be uniquely theirs. To that end, we ask that parents try their best to refrain from doing any of the work for their kids.
If you want to be involved, you can remind them how to use the tools and materials properly, or help them remember the steps of a project, or encourage them to stay on track and pay attention to the instructor. But they should make all the decisions about where that paintbrush lands on the canvas, or where that sparkly bead should be glued on the sculpture, or what color glitter goes best with their collage. It's their art!
Don't be afraid to let them get messy and mess up. That is where some real learning takes place, in seeing what works and what doesn't.
Remember.. art is not always about taking home a perfect finished product. It's about playing with new tools and materials, and socializing with friends. It's about autonomy and free-thinking and making something of your very own. Let your kids make their own projects, and if you want to make something, you can take a class of your own!