Little Pallets offers art education with the desire to unlock creativity in EVERY student. Creativity is not limited by age, race or background but limited only by ones vision.


We, as traveling educators would love to bring our proven curriculum and teaching style to your community!

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Sometimes There Are Purple Zebras!
As I tell my students, maybe a zebra IS purple! As a young teacher in training I had a student who struggled in school yet excelled in imagination and creativity. I decided to have this young student, who had struggled in reading but was passed along each year, to do an in-depth book report on an animal of her choosing. In addition she would make a paper mâché mask of her animal and then present to her class, which was made up of mostly younger students. The student loved the idea (step 1- see them). Along the way, there were times the student (and I) wanted to quit, but pushing through the tough points was also something that needed to be learned. (step 2- perseverance).

On the day before the presentation my professor; the all-knowing doctorate came in to the classroom to check on my progress. Clear as day I can still see my student beaming as she showed the report she had done with pictures. My student had decided to make a poster as well as her paper mâché mask she had created of the animal of her choice...the zebra. My professor, the all-knowing leader in elementary education found nothing right with her project! She pointed out errors in the paper, errors which would apply to a high school paper not an elementary paper. Then she got to the paper mâché mask. Still managing a smile, the student showed the mask that she had made. We shared how we had figured out how to make the nose and ears. Then without a hesitation or thought, the only words uttered by my professor, the leader of my education theory and guide into the world of teaching, told my student redo it, zebras aren't purple! And then she left.

My defeated student crumpled emotionally. She had worked so hard and had pushed passed fears, learned behaviors of quitting etc and had stepped out of her comfort zone to do art (which can be very emotionally unlocking), to create a beautiful and age appropriate project. With tears welling up in my eyes, I thought quickly...my grade is riding on this, but I knew my professor was wrong. I looked at my student and asked her, why she had painter her zebra mask purple. With very simple words she replied because it needed color! I smiled, are they purple in nature? No, they would die if they looked different...she went on to explain how the strips help to protect the zebras when the predators are around because they see only lines not individual zebras...easier to pick them out to destroy and eat. Just like my professor had just done. She saw a purple zebra among the do's and don'ts, theory and philosophies and had tried to destroy the purple zebra which stood out. We kept the mask and she was a hit when she presented to the younger kids. I took a grade deduction but today I can push my students to their excellence because maybe a zebra is purple!
Maybe, it's stepping on a stage to paint a tree that is whimsical or stepping past teens always... and blowing them away with their maturity, leadership and creativity. There are purple zebras everyday if we choose to break the norm and look at things differently. Little Pallets! approaches each curriculum which they create, class they teach and event they plan with this drive towards creativity and excellence.